Feel The Excitement!

Don't miss the Rockin' Rodeo Shindig September 5, 2008! Five real cowboys will be riding the (mechanical) bull. Pick your favorite and cheer him on! Click here to learn more about the Shindig.

Honorary Hosts

Holly Palmer Cheff and Steve Shepler
Mark and Brooke Dobbins
Steve and Tara East
Ron and Nanette Elenbaas
Tom and Gayle Kolassa
Russ and LouAnn Mawby
Ken and Julie Miller
Jeff and Amy O'Brien
David and Amy Smith
Ronda Stryker and Bill Johnston
Amy Upjohn and Brad Vandenberg
Jon and Courtenay VanderMolen


Sponsors:

Presenting Sponsors

Holly Palmer Cheff -- hollybean designs
Contractors Mechanical
Tom and Gayle Kolassa
Midlink Business Park
Millennium Restaurant Group
Dr. Pignataro, Caring Hands Chiropractic
Radisson Restaurants
Workforce Strategies, Inc.



Rodeo Royalty

Harold Zeigler Auto Group
Huntington Bank
KNI Southwest Michigan Imaging Center
Ben Stout
Shaver Road Animal Hospital


Grand Champions

Allegra Print & Imaging
Schupan and Sons
Jon and Courtenay VanderMolen


Blue Ribbon Supporters

Tim and Anne Fischell
Michael O'Connor
SW Michigan Dermatology



Restaurants

Black Swan
Epic Bistro
Fieldstone Grill
Old Burdicks
The Union
Webster's
Zazio's

Is There a "Healthy" Way to Meet Someone?

Imagine the smoldering scene: there he sat in a plume of smoke. His dark, handsome features soften with every sip of whiskey. He’s unwinding after a long day at the office. Perhaps he’s waiting for someone.

Enter the single, twenty-something stuck in Kalamazoo. She let her hair down and skipped lunch to fit into her designer jeans. All ten of her toes are wedged into a pair of pointed, 4” stilettos. She orders a martini and something deep-fried with a side of ranch dressing.

Their eyes meet and the rest is romantic history…minus, of course, the lingering aroma of cigarette smoke, two hangovers and that giant side of trans fats.

Most females will tell you they dreamed of meeting their significant other in college. I distinctly remember my freshman year at Michigan State University. My girlfriends and I sat in a crowded cafeteria, checking out more than the food. I think I was the one who said: “Just imagine. Our husbands are probably somewhere on this campus, right now.”

We all graduated single and a little discouraged. As part of the post-college crowd, we learned that the last of the single people were located at bars and nightclubs. This discouraged me even more—my desire to find fun in a loud, smoky and overcrowded “hotspot” must have died with my college days. Besides, I have an inkling that most guys don’t go to the bar thinking, “I’m looking for a wife.” Just an inkling…

In a society where everything is “going green” and we rethink what we waste, I ask myself, is there a “healthy” way to meet someone? I mean, you could find the man of your dreams recycling his cans at Meijer. But I’m thinking that it would be ideal to meet someone who shares your values and with whom you could incorporate your lifestyle.

I’d like to challenge the single, twenty-somethings of Kalamazoo to get out during the daylight hours and interact in a way that betters themselves and the community. I’m thinking, take a stroll through the Farmer’s Market on a Saturday morning, go for a jog with Gazelle Sports Summer Safari, become active in a local sporting club or head to the beach and have fun in the sun (just don’t forget the SPF). These are all significant opportunities for a great time, and could be a “healthier” way to meet someone. Don’t let them go to waste!

West Hills Athletic Club

The mission of West Hills Athletic club is to provide individualized support for members as they reach their personal health, fitness and nutrition goals. Providing a comfortable yet motivating environment for its members, West Hills offers an array of fitness options specific to women, men, athletes and seniors. West Hills is also the home to nine of the areas finest indoor tennis courts and programming, including instruction for all ages and skill levels. West Hills Athletic Club is located at 2001 South 11th St. and is open 7 days a week. For further inquiries, call 269.387.0410. For more information or to view a virtual tour of the facility, visit West Hills Athletic Club online.

Moped Army takes Kalamazoo by Storm

If you listen closely this Memorial Day weekend, you might think a swarm of killer bees has migrated as far north as Kalamazoo. But the droning is not an army of stinging insects — it’s the humming of hundreds of mopeds that make up the Moped Army.

Nearly 10 years ago, three moped fanatics from Western Michigan University established a riding club called the Decepticons. In the wake of their enthusiasm, branches of moped riders formed across the nation. Together, they are Moped Army—and each year they return to their roots in Southwest Michigan to celebrate all that is moped.

This Memorial Day the Moped Army will host their 14th annual Moped BBQ. The event is the largest gathering of mopeds in the United States, and it’s right here in Kalamazoo. Festivities start at 10 a.m.

Take witness as moped riders from across the country find their way to 1977 Mopeds, located at 248 N. Kalamazoo Mall. Throughout the day riders will showcase their bikes and prepare for the annual No Rules Race Across Town at 5 p.m.

The Moped Army and its Annual BBQ have inspired the documentary Swarm and Destroy and an award-winning graphic novel by writer/artist Paul Sizer. Spectators and moped enthusiasts are encouraged to attend the annual BBQ at 1977 Mopeds and see what the buzz is all about. Everyone is welcome and there’s no cost to participate. For more information, call 269.344.1977 or visit the Moped Army Wiki.

Memorial Day 2008 Events

Memorial Day Parade

Join thousands of patriotic Americans in Kalamazoo this Memorial Day in remembering those who have served our country. The Memorial Day Parade kicks off in downtown Kalamazoo on Monday, May 26 at 10 a.m. The parade route begins at the intersection of Church St. and Michigan Ave. It will continue east on Michigan Ave. to Riverview, north to Gull Rd. and east to the ceremonial site at Riverside Cemetery. The Kalamazoo County Veterans Day and the Memorial Day Association sponsor this annual event. For further questions, call 269-501-9971.


Kalamazoo Kings Baseball

The Kalamazoo Kings will host home games against the Midwest Sliders on Saturday, May 24 (7:05 p.m.), Sunday, May 25 (4:05 p.m.) and Monday, May 26 (1:05 p.m.). Highlights of Memorial Day weekend include a JD Byrider car giveaway on the 24th and Military Appreciation Day on the 26th. Military Appreciation Day will feature free admission for members of the military and their families. Also, representatives from the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Color Guard will be present to host an obstacle course and giveaways.

The Kalamazoo Kings play at Homer Stryker Field, located at Mayor’s Riverfront Park, 251 Mills St. in Kalamazoo. General admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors (age 55 and up) and children under 3 get in free. Kids 14 and under get in free with a paid adult admission on Sunday, May 25th and Monday, May 26th. To learn more or to view the calendar for the Kalamazoo Kings, visit www.kalamazookings.com. Tickets can be purchased by calling 269-388-8326 or upon arrival to the stadium.

Want to make a difference? Forget national politics.

By Blaine Lam

I’ve never lost an argument.

I have, however, been royally exasperated at times by my inability to convince my opponents of that fact. And nothing exasperates me more than arguing with people who spend inordinate amounts of time thinking they’re influencing what’s going on in Washington, D.C. by talking about it. Watching American Idol, by my way of thinking, is equally as politically productive as watching the evening news or, say, the Daily Show. While I appreciate the passion that my friends apply to to the national political debate, I do so with the mental image of an ant on a log, swearing he’s steering it.

Don’t get me wrong. I vote. Voting is to democracy what clouds are to rain. Necessary, but not very close to the action when people start getting wet.

So, what does this have to do with my never having lost an argument? Well, the argument I keep having -- the one my opponents swear I’m not winning -- concerns my view that national politics, compared to personal, neighborhood, organizational and community life -- are pretty insignificant.

Many consider it blasphemy to suggest that anything so dynamic as national politics and as big and powerful as our federal government could be anything but the guiding forces in our society and our lives. I’m just not buying it. It’s a Grand Soap Opera, and like the Days of Our Lives, you can come back every few years and realize the plot hasn’t moved very much.

National politics, after all, are not cause, but effect. Issues, movements, trends and society-shaping events all start at the local level. Tip O’Neill, even with 34 years in Congress, said it best: “All politics is local.” Issues work their way up, not the other way around.

Historically, to win my argument, I pull out the example of the time when children were crawling into refrigerators in landfills and suffocating. By the time legislation worked its way up to require that doors be removed when refrigerators were to be discarded, not a child had suffered that fate in five years.

Put another way, Washington, D.C. is old news, a stamp of approval, a formalization, a standardization of what Americans long ago had decided...and done. To get on the front end of the political spectrum, you want to get as far away from the nation’s capital as possible.

I’ll grant you the example of an abandoned refrigerator hardly impresses someone who just watched his 88th straight day of analysis on why Hillary Clinton criticized Barack Obama -- or vice versa. With politicians playing on such a grand stage, the argumentative deck has always been stacked against me.

That is, until I came across an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. I’ve been told, over the course of this election cycle, that health care is making a comeback on the national political scene. Having just celebrated our five-year anniversary of our victory in Iraq and convinced, even if we think we can affect the direction of national politics, that we cannot affect the price of gasoline, well, by golly, health care must be important. And it is.

For one thing, consider the stakes: Americans spend $2.1 trillion a year on health care. And with 47 million of us who aren’t covered and our collective health status pretty much in the tank, compared to other developed nations, well, by God, someone had better do something about health care. Harrumph. Harrumph.

But here’s the rub. There’s not a politician alive -- with or without a plan -- who can do much, if anything, about it.

Getting to the bottom line of the health care issue -- whether you live or die -- the New England Journal published the “Shattuck Lecture” through the Massachusetts Medical Society about what really ails us. Dr. Steven A. Schroeder examined the five top contributing factors in premature death. Notably, “inadequate health care” accounted for 10 percent of those deaths, meaning the other 90 percent aren’t really going to be affected by the national debate. Individual behavior is the obvious culprit, and virtually ALL of the realistic solutions to this health care issue are local. When we support Girls on the Run, Meijer Kids Fun Run, youth sports and daily exercise; when we ban smoking in public places; and when we take pop out of our schools and replace it with nutritionally balanced lunches, then we address health care. With that approach, it might even be affordable.

In my mind, I’ve won the local vs. national involvement arguments so many times and so convincingly, I’ve never really chosen to play my trump card -- logic. But, I will now, lest my adversaries would attempt to sway your thinking with the notion that something big is about to happen in the Grand Soap Opera. Logically, you know you have more effect on what is close to you. Logically, you understand what affects your health and your community’s health. Logically, you know you can go to work on it -- at the local level where, logically, you know you can make a difference.

And then at the end of a hard day working on this important national issue, you could still watch the Daily Show.

Happy Mother's Day

With Mother’s Day around the corner, I wanted to share a few things about the friend and role model I have in my mother.

I think of Marcia as the antique. Every year she gets more and more beautiful. I envision her a bride at 18: a child draped in white lace, advancing down the aisle towards young love. This was the path to the family that would be her self-proclaimed greatest joy and purpose in life.

Marcia had her first son at age 20. Two years later, after nine months of craving pickles, ice cream and fruit loops, Marcia gave birth to me. Over the next five years her and dad gave me a younger sister and a younger brother. Marcia worked from home and made certain her family joined each night for a home-cooked meal. The six of us seated around the dinner table is my fondest childhood memory.

I remember dancing around the living room with my mom to Chaka Khan, Billy Ocean, The Commodores and Kool & the Gang. The windows were open. In the backyard, laundry on the clothesline swayed in the breeze. The sun shot through the windows making big, bright squares on the carpet. We danced and danced. I spun myself in circles before falling to the ground. Childhood was a spinning room of music, dancing, sunshine and family.

With a farmer for a husband, Marcia cared for more than her own children. She nursed orphaned baby lambs to health in our basement. I’m simply amazed at how she did it all, especially taking four kids to the grocery store without making a scene. Our clothes were always clean and our home, always spotless. She taught responsibility and ran a tight ship. Our rules were strict but revealed to us her compassion. Like other kids, we weren’t allowed to throw our toys or hurt or siblings. But more importantly we weren’t allowed to call each other names like “dumb” or “stupid.”

Marcia curled her daughters’ hair and told us we were beautiful. She never missed a parent-teacher conference and praised her children for doing well in school. She made a point to tell us we were smart. Marcia is a strong woman. A survivor. She vowed to give her children everything she never had but always wanted. She chose to break a cycle and create a life for her children based upon unconditional love, support, praise and self-worth. For this I am eternally grateful, because it has made me who I am today.

I would like to reverse the roles and thank the special woman who I call mama. I would like to tell her how smart, beautiful and courageous she is. And while I know she may not totally believe me, she raised me to always tell the truth. Happy Mother’s Day.

Don't Talk to Strangers!

Growing up, my mom told her four children never to talk to strangers. This is easy enough when you’re seven years old: if a creepy guy in a big van with no windows offers you candy or asks for directions, simply run the other way. But somewhere between training wheels and drivers training, interacting with strangers becomes part of everyday life. It’s how learning happens; how business works...even how love evolves.

If I were to take my mother’s advice as an adult, running from every stranger would make me a world-class marathoner. Like most people, I’ve traded the childhood run from the unknown for the opportunity to understand what makes strangers interesting, friendly, enlightening or just very strange.

I still fondly recall my run-in with a stranger at the supermarket. He was the handsome man in a suit, who offered me random—but very effective words of wisdom. Then there was the older gentleman who sat next to me and cheered on his grandson at a track meet. He intrigued me with stories about the changing face of our small town. This stranger emanated a sense of contentment with life that I hope to someday achieve.

I also recall, not very fondly, an encounter with a stranger who viewed my personal successes as failures and then had the audacity to ask me to dinner. Even if he drove a BMW, he might as well have driven the big, rusty, windowless van—because my instincts told me to run. Then of course there was the stranger who did take me to dinner, looked deep enough into my eyes to make my stomach leap—and then never pursued our special connection. The disappointment lingers.

Good or bad, I believe my interactions with strangers ultimately make me a better person. The good I see in others inspires me. Strangers help me to evaluate who I want to be and how I want to change. And if they don’t lighten my load they thicken my skin. I can’t invest much thought or emotion into strangers who judge me. After all, they’re strangers.