Blogs
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Noodle on this: Just 32 percent of Michigan's working-age residents hold at least a two-year college degree. Gov. Granholm and The Kresge Foundation want to double this figure by 2025. Caroline Altman Smith, a program officer at Kresge, will spotlight community colleges and cover the importance of college access (and success) for Detroiters.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Detroit is proudly pegged on world maps as the motherland of techno. Lest we forget, author and Organic, Inc. Creative Director Dan Sicko has released a new edition of his book, Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk. This week Dan writes about sound waves and why he kept his feet planted in the Motor City.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Healthy bodies grow healthy minds. SEED Wayne Director Kami Pothukuchi, a WSU professor of urban planning and manager of one of the few university-run farmers markets in the nation, will discuss the campus market and why educators and urban planners should pay close attention to local, nutritious, and affordable food systems.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Did you know that parks and open space comprise 38 percent of London's footprint? Successful cities know green means a better quality of life and a healthier population. Bryan Farmer, recreation superintendent for the city of Farmington Hills, blogs about next week's No Child Left Inside Summit and the city's commitment to outdoor programming.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Henry Ford in Dearborn is a campus of invention and cultural evolution. From living laboratories to the Rosa Parks bus, its 26+ million artifacts are the nation's most distinctive collection of American culture and innovation. Patricia E. Mooradian, president of The Henry Ford, explains how an American history museum stays relevant and fosters the next generation of thinkers.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
The Detroit Free Press recently voted Supino's Pizzeria tops in Metro Detroit (no small feat, given the competition; GQ ranks Detroit as third-best pizza city in the U.S.). Dave Mancini, Supino's chef and owner, gives the Kitchen Confidential tour of his Eastern Market gourmet pizza place and dishes on his favorite local businesses.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The case of City Government v. Business Interests is now closed. For the region to flourish again, attorney and Royal Oak City Commissioner Jim Rasor knows that both parties need to be on the same side. This week he offers up his 2020 vision for the region.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
It is the work of a historic preservationist to keep buildings out of the graveyard. Well-known preservationist Rebecca Binno Savage, a project manager with AKT Peerless Environmental and Energy Services, has written the book on Detroit area Art Deco architecture. This week, she digs into a few vintage buildings and builds a case for their resurrection.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Any way you cast it, the beauty of art is its ability to project intrigue onto, say, an overturned refrigerator. This week Monica Bowman, founder and director of The Butcher's Daughter gallery, opens a window onto the relevance of contemporary art for Detroit communities.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
The labor laws for Michigan's workforce are decidedly DIY now. Here to speak to this is Dan Izzo, training leader at Bizdom U, a tuition-free academy for entrepreneurs in Detroit. This week Dan writes on avoiding broad stroke metaphors for the region, and how thinking like an individual and an entrepreneur will get us out of our current funk.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thinking on the fly takes talent, but it's one that can be taught. Pj Jacokes, comedian and producer of the Go Comedy! Improv Theater and Go Improv Academy, makes a career out of showing Metro Detroiters how to be fast on their feet. His sketch this week outlines why we should care about improv and fostering those bursts of imagination.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Haul away those dumpsters with John Bradburn, environmental engineer for the GM Worldwide Facilities Group. John waxes green this week on GM's clean innovations and landfill-free program and on why businesses need an eco-friendly infrastructure.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
In the winter of its economic downturn, the city of Detroit is doing an upriver crawl. Jump in with Ric Geyer, managing partner of 4731 Consulting (and long-distance swimmer), as he discusses Citizens for Cities, heroism, and his annual 14-miler across Lake St. Clair.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Metro Detroit recently got its own version of the venerable Chautauqua gathering of thinkers with the inaugural TEDx Detroit intellectual and creative conference. This week, TEDx organizer and ad man Charlie Wollborg, founder of Curve Detroit Advertising, Marketing & Design, presents another Chautauqua of the mind with his collection of videos aimed at refilling Michigan's economic fountain of ideas.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Detroit Public Schools' high school graduation rate was an abysmal 38 percent in 2005, ranking it 48th out of the nation's 50 largest school systems, says a recent America's Promise Alliance study. Others have pegged it as low as 25 percent. Frank Nardelli, principal of Detroit's Dove Academy, a K-7 charter public school, is waging a turnaround one campus at a time. His lesson plan? Parental involvement, a club that goes beyond the usual extracurriculars, and visions of the Big Ten dancing in children's heads.