February 22, 2012 | 4:58 PM | By Dustin Dwyer
flickr user josephleenovak
A Detroit hipster
Hipsters. What with their mustaches, skinny jeans and bicycles, how are they not just the most adorable creatures in the world? But if there’s one thing they love even more than that navy-blue American Apparel hoodie with the white piping, it’s irony. And where do they most love casting their ironic gaze? On themselves, of course.
Which brings us to this fine piece of bloggery that’s been making the rounds. It’s written by none other than “Austin’s Blogger of the Year,” Lauren Modery.
Modery writes:
Sometimes it feels like there is no place more hipster-plentiful than Austin, Texas …But are other cities unscathed by the beast? Smaller, up-and-coming cities that are like how Austin was before ‘we’ showed up?
She then lists three cities that are not in the Midwest, and gently pokes fun at the hipsters there. I’ll be honest, I barely skimmed this part. But then, Modery gets to her final city on the brink of “hipsterfication,” Detroit:
Continue reading →
February 22, 2012 | 1:44 PM | By Dustin Dwyer
If you share our fascination with all the documentaries made about Detroit, you’ll want to check out this list of the “The 5 Most Inspirational Videos About Detroit,” from BuzzFeed.
The video above is their pick for number one. What about you? What’s the most inspirational video you’ve ever seen about Detroit? Or about your city?
February 20, 2012 | 3:39 PM | By Dustin Dwyer
libraries.mit.edu
MIT's Building 20 was ugly, confusing and never meant to last. But over its 55-year history, the building was home to some of the most important innovations of the 20th century.
In an article published in the New Yorker last month, Jonah Lehrer wrote about the myth of brainstorming.
The myth is that the best way to foster new ideas is to let them spring forth in a group setting, without fear of judgment or criticism. Turns out, ideas, and the people behind them, need to be challenged and questioned.
And the space in which these ideas grow can play a huge role.
Deep into his piece, Lehrer tells the story of Building 20, a ramshackle space set up at MIT during World War II. The space was meant to be temporary. It was built from plywood and covered in asbestos shingles. But after the end of the war sent a flood of new students and researchers to MIT, the building stayed open out of sheer necessity. And, then Lehrer says, a curious thing happened:
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On Monday, there will be word on the new members of a growing collection across the Midwest: vacant churches. The Archdiocese of Detroit is expected to officially announce which parishes will close or be combined with others across a six-county region, and the Detroit News says that could result in 39 fewer churches.
Hobbs & Black Architects are in this Ann Arbor, Mich. church
Vacant churches dot our cities — not just Detroit, in but Cleveland and Chicago, as well. But, like other empty places that we’ve reported on in the Midwest, some are being put to new uses.
One longstanding example is in Ann Arbor, where Hobbs & Black Architects have their offices in the former First Unitarian Church. The imposing stone building at 100 N. State Street was built in 1885, and was used as a church until 1975. Hobbs & Black bought it in 1985, and gave it a painstaking restoration, including a soaring Tiffany glass window.
We’d like to know about other churches in our region that are being put to new use. Please let us know about the ones in your city. And if there are churches sitting vacant, we’d like to hear about those, too.
Tell us how church buildings are coming back to life.
February 20, 2012 | 2:12 PM | By Meg Cramer
Jeff Karoub writes:
I’m half-Arab, but maybe I should best be described as a Detroit Arab-American, 
because this is the place that helped to shape my family and my family helped shape.
Like any family of mixed ancestry, traditions have been blended and blunted, but being in a place with such a large, diverse population with roots in the Middle East has allowed us to keep things like the food front-and-center in our lives.
I’m grateful for being part of a family that is open to many cultural and religious traditions and I think we are stronger for it.
As my family’s 100th anniversary in the U.S. approached, I thought of its contribution to this place. My grandfather worked at Ford while he served as a Muslim minister and Arab-Muslim newspaper publisher. My father played French horn for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and so many classic Motown records.
All of it inspired a song I recently wrote called “Made by Motown.”
You can listen to Jeff’s song here.
First, Changing Gears brought you a handy guide to making a hard-scrabble documentary about Detroit. Now, we’re welcoming the flocks of political reporters who are descending on the Midwest with our How-To Guide For Midwest Primary Stories.
Photo via Greentech.com
We’re dividing this into two parts: Michigan, which holds its primary on Feb. 28, and Ohio, which is part of Super Tuesday. Save it for this fall, because you can do these stories all over again!
Today, we’ll tackle the Great Lakes State.
Michigan
It’s possible to cover the Michigan primary by staying within 60 miles of Detroit. Why drive farther than you have to?
Here are suggestions that barely require you to move from your room at the Marriott in the Renaissance Center or the Westin Book Cadillac (or the Holiday Inn Express, if your news organization is on a tight budget):
Continue reading →
February 17, 2012 | 10:54 AM | By Meg Cramer
Michelle Guevara writes:
My great-grandfather migrated from Sicily. Like a lot of Italian migrants, he was poor but carved a name for himself and ended up having a large family.
I miss the big family gatherings. Most of us are grown now. Weddings and funerals are the only time the extended family gets together any more. The older generation held more of the old traditions together than we do now. I find that a shame. Those were some of my best memories.
I remember cannoli day, a tradition that my family and cousins continue to this day. Everyone brings a batch of cannoli dough and we set up an assembly line. A few roll the dough out then pass it along to those rolling the forms. They drop the rolls gently into the deep fryer.
- Michelle demonstrates her cannoli rolling technique
Before the last batch is done, my cousins start dinner of spaghetti, meat balls or sausages, salad, and garlic bread. We fill our bellies to the point of bursting.
For dessert we eat…what else? Cannolis! By the end of the day, we pack the shells into boxes and divide them among the family. One day we made 700 shells.
-Michelle Guevara, Michigan
(In case you’re wondering—700 cannolis would add up to 4950 cubic inches of Italian dessert, or: one giant 3.5×1 ft cannoli.)
Most Americans have ethnic and cultural roots outside of the U.S. We’re asking you to share cultural traditions that are still important to you.
Changing Gears is looking for stories, recipes, songs, and pictures. We’ll be collecting these stories on the Your Family Story page. They’ll also appear at changinggears.info and we’ll even put some on the air. You can share your story here.
February 16, 2012 | 10:16 AM | By Dustin Dwyer
That’s a lot of clams GM made $7.6 billion last year. It was a record profit.
Mixed foreclosure news New foreclosure data is in. The numbers are down in Ohio and Michigan. But they’re up in Illinois.
Research and Decline R&D jobs dropped 43% in Chicago between 2000 and 2010, according to a new study. Crain’s Chicago Business has the write-up.
Collegial process The Columbus Dispatch reports Ohio’s 37 colleges and universities have agreed on a construction wish list for this year’s state budget. Governor John Kasich called the unified process “unprecedented.”
Small power plants, big effect? The closure of four small, little-used power plants is stoking speculation that energy prices in Ohio could rise. The Cleveland Plain Dealer says the common sense analysis would say that the change should have little effect on prices. But, the new world of online auctions for power prices “don’t necessarily make common sense.”
Bus cuts Detroit will cancel early-morning bus service in an effort to save cash.
Mining bill advances A special committee has been disbanded, and a controversial piece of mining legislation has been put on the fast track in the Wisconsin Senate, proving once again that nothing is simple in Wisconsin politics these days. The bill would loosen regulations to help open an iron mine in northern Wisconsin.
February 13, 2012 | 8:59 AM | By Dustin Dwyer
Worth it? The state of Wisconsin spent nearly $50 million to support investment companies that were supposed to help create new businesses. In the end, only 202 jobs were created, at a cost to taxpayers of $247,000 per job, according to an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Job openings for veterans GE says it will hire 5,000 U.S. military veterans, and open new factories. One new factory will be in Dayton, Ohio.
A big economic bite “Folksy” northeast Ohio food manufacturing companies have grown into a $2.6 billion industry with 18,000 workers, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Tough decisions Leaders in the city of Detroit are still trying to come up with ways to avoid financial insolvency. The Detroit News says some of the city’s most treasured assets may have to be sold. And leaders at the Detroit Institute of Arts also have to consider what was once unthinkable: selling valuable items in the Institute’s collection.
A taxing problem Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is hoping to do away with a costly and confusing property tax for corporations. But the Detroit Free Press reports no one is quite sure how to replace the revenue it creates.
More healthcare jobs The Columbus Dispatch reports that new hospitals at Ohio State University are expected to create 8,400 permanent jobs.
Eau Claire’s own Wisconsin native Justin Vernon had a pretty good night at the Grammys.
