March 4, 2011

Italian musicians energy contagious

KALAMAZOO – The instruments and music used by the Italian ensemble Il Giardino Armonico date back to the 17th and 18th centuries, but their performance style is far from dated.

“These performers sometimes dance around the stage like rock stars,” said Abhijit Sengupta, chief executive officer and musical director of the Fontana Chamber Arts, which is bringing the ensemble to Kalamazoo for a February 25 concert at 8 p.m. at the Dalton Center on the Western Michigan University campus.

“They don’t even sit in the traditional way.  If they get excited, they jump right up and really get into it,” Sengupta said.  “You can hear so much joy in their music-making.

The Grammy-award winning group based in Milan, Italy, turned down requests to appear in bigger cities such as New York and San Francisco, prompting Sengupta to say it’s a coup for the Kalamazoo area to have them perform here.  He said Dalton is an ideal venue for the performance because it’s a more intimate setting.

“This is the first time they’ve been to Kalamazoo and it’s been maybe a decade since they’ve been to North America,” Sengupta said.  “We are one of only four cities included on their tour.”

Il Giardino was founded in Milan in 1985 by Luca Pianca and Giovanni Antonini. The ensemble brings together a number of graduates from some of Europe’s leading colleges of music, all of whom have specialised in playing on period instruments. Depending on the demands of each program, the group will consist of anything from three to 30 musicians.

Although not the only group to perform historical musical pieces on period instruments, Il Giardino is among the most highly regarded in national and international music circles.  Their music is based on treatises written by composers such as Vivaldi to be played on instruments of a particular time period.

Sengupta said people are learning how to play modern versions of these instruments.

The ensemble began releasing recordings in the 1980’s which showcased this music and what it could have sounded like.  Its various recordings of works by Vivaldi- among which the Four Seasons – and other 18th-century composers have met with widespread acclaim on the part of audiences and critics alike and have received several major awards.

“They read these treatises and applied their imagination,” Sengupta said of Il Giardino.  “Many of the instruments have been preserved in museum settings around the world.”

The  ensemble’s performance here will include an abundance of music from Vivaldi and other Venetian composers.

“Their approach and the kind of music they’ll be performing will appeal to veteran music lovers as well as people who are not frequent concertgoers,” Sengupta said.  “You don’t need to have any prior experience or knowledge of music.”

The unconventional performance technique used by Il Giardino attracts college-age and younger individuals.

Sengupta said Fontana events often attract upwards of 75 college-age and younger.

“Many of these ensembles are their heroes,” he said.  “There have been concerts where we’ve had hundreds of students.

“When I hear their recordings, I can’t imagine playing any other way.”

 

 

 

 

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March 4, 2011

Back in business

Amazing how a little ice can turn your world upside down.

No power for almost four days and a tree branch knocked down our phone lines – hence no phone, no Internet and most discouraging of all, no Internet.

But, I’m back in business now and prepared to post what I hope you consider interesting and fun-to-read stories.

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February 18, 2011

Raising the roof in Battle Creek

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Danielle Wallace has broken through the roofing industry’s glass ceiling in Southwest Michigan.

Wallace, 31, is McDonald Roofing’s lone female field employee. She is the face of the Detroit-based company’s Battle Creek office which opened here on Nov. 1. The local operation moves into its new quarters at 510 Columbia Ave. on March 1.

McDonald’s Roofing, founded in 1947, also has locations in Jackson and Livonia. McDonald’s sister company, J.D. Candler began in 1879.

“We are the oldest roofing company in Michigan,” Wallace says. “We are the only union shop in the Battle Creek/Kalamazoo area.”

Being union poses some unique challenges, especially when it comes to people’s perceptions, but Wallace says she has a ready answer for potential customers.

“The big thing with roofing shops that are union is that workers are trained from within,” Wallace says. “In our shop you start at the bottom level. There’s a benefit to employees and employers because all of our guys are trained.”

Wallace, who was born and raised in Kalamazoo, got into the roofing business after her high school graduation. She spent 10 years at Chenoweth Roofing Company in Three Rivers before going to work for McDonald’s where she started as a sheet metal worker and eventually was appointed to her current job as a branch manager.

The company’s Battle Creek location employs three people and across the three locations of the company 150 individuals will be hired during peak roofing season, which begins when temperatures warm up.

Although the term “lifelong learning” isn’t always applied to the building and trades industry, McDonald’s employees are always learning new techniques and technologies designed to increase the life of roofs. The company focuses on commercial, industrial, governmental and school system roofing jobs, but Wallace says they also do some residential work.

Their client base in Battle Creek includes the Kellogg Co. and the Calhoun County Jail. An increase in business here prompted the company to open the office currently operating out of Wallace’s home.

In keeping with a growing demand for building “green,” McDonald’s is increasingly making “lean construction” a priority.

“We’re looking at how to reduce waste and implement new technologies to serve our customers,” Wallace says. “We’ve also started focusing on service and preventative maintenance rather than re-roofing.”

This service and maintenance support has helped McDonald’s remain profitable throughout economic ups-and-downs. Wallace says it’s a relatively new concept in smaller cities, although companies in bigger cities have been using this method because it saves money.

“It costs less than doing a re-roof,” she says. “To put a new system on top you have to have cranes and street closures.”

Simply put, McDonald’s takes their roofing expertise up a notch by integrating new technologies or working with customers to help them achieve their goals by offering fairly new options, such a solar energy, which will enable the companies and organizations McDonald’s does business with to get tax credits.

“We can actually design a roof for a building which structurally should last at least 15 years,” Wallace says. “We’ll check it out once year. We’re really focused on taking a proactive approach to getting roofs inspected on a regular basis and extending the overall life of the roof.”

The addition of components such as solar panels or reflective coating can potentially add another 10 years onto the life of a roof, extending that life to 30 years.

Resurface coating may be applied several times to also increase the roof lifespan. Coating work originally comes with a 10-year warranty. Wallace says roofing companies should be able to go in, look at any deficiencies, and make the necessary repairs to add another 10 years onto the manufacturers warranty.

“You can go up on the roof, cut a section out and see how much reflectivity has been lost,” Wallace says.

In addition to the standard roof topping structures, McDonald’s is getting more requests for green roof systems that incorporate ground cover as a way to save energy and decrease the amount of harmful gases going into the atmosphere. These roofing systems typically cost about 30 percent more than a standard system.

“They want trees and basic ground cover,” Wallace says. “We had one customer looking at putting a green roof on top of a new roofing system.”

These roofing systems are more expensive at the outset than a traditional roof, but the future savings are greater. Wallace says she recommends making the investment when considering a new roof or a re-roof because trying to include it later becomes costly.

The type of vegetation is a major consideration, especially in areas of the country where snow and colder temperatures are not kind to flowering plants. Vegetation is grown in plastic crates and the water, worms and nutrients continue growing from crate to crate.

“If you put flowering plants on it will look crappy in the winter,” Wallace says. “If you put groundcover on it will require less maintenance. One of the good things about a green roof is that it’s good for the environment. It creates more of an insulation. Now that that roof membrane isn’t exposed to the elements it will last longer.”

Wallace is a proponent of metal roofs because they last “forever.”

“There are so many different styles that hold heat in rather than letting it through and you can get a 50-year warranty on residential roofs, but they are more expensive to do,” Wallace says.

Despite the many options available and advice based on vast knowledge of the roofing industry, Wallace says she has her share of customers who say “no because it’s too damn expensive.”

She acknowledges the difficulty in getting people to see the benefits to a new roof, re-roof or the routine service and maintenance.

“I won’t just give up,” Wallace says. “I want them to know a girl won’t let the roof win.”

Jane C. Parikh is a freelance reporter and writer with more than 20 years of experience and also is the owner of In So Many Words based in Battle Creek.

Photos by Erik Holladay

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February 18, 2011

Battle Creek neighborhood rises up

Slices of pizza and pieces of art are key to renewed restoration efforts in the Freedom Acres neighborhood in Battle Creek.

The opening in April of Sgt. Pepper’s Pizza and Urban Art, with its gallery, studio art space and workshop, have spurred positive changes that neighbors say they expect to continue.

There is a long-standing perception that Freedom Acres is home to drug dealing and prostitution, dilapidated buildings and homes, and residents who no longer care about their neighborhood. The reality is a bit different, says Marcus Trammell.

Tramell is a community organizer with JONAH, a coalition of 20 local churches and non-profit groups working together in influence political, environmental, social and economic decisions in Battle Creek. He says residents of the neighborhood, bordered by Latta Street to Capital Avenue and North Avenue to Fremont Street, are ready to work to change the perception that’s saddled their area of the city. That work starts with a Community Engagement Center. It opened in January in a two-story brick building at 104 Calhoun Street that used to house Jack Pearl’s sporting goods store.

Fresh coats of paint in bright green, yellow and purple decorate the walls in different areas of the building.

A white memo board on a yellow-painted wall in the mid-section of the building lists barter opportunities available to residents with one simple rule: “One of hour of my time = one hour of your time.”

Barter will be an essential part of any effort to improve Freedom Acres because residents here don’t have a lot of disposable income. Despite this, they are willing to do what they can, says Jeremy Andrews, a community organizer with Neighborhoods, Inc., which manages the center.

“People are willing to do for themselves, but it’s not always easy for them,” Andrews says. “This doesn’t mean they want everything given to them.”

The lower level of the center will eventually house a Tool Lending Library that will operate much like other libraries. Donated tools, which Andrews hopes to collect from individuals, businesses and organizations in the community, will be available for residents to check-out for home improvement projects.

A typical tool library will have anything from hammers to ladders. Andrews says he needs circular and reciprocating saws, drills and the smaller items such as pruning shears, shovels and rakes.

“We want to help people who need it, but we’re not going to discourage people who can afford a ladder from coming in,” he says.

Andrews gave workshops in other neighborhoods to teach residents how to make home repairs and improvements and he noticed a need to provide tools so they could get the work done.

“Out of my barn, I personally lend tools to neighborhood associations and youth groups who want to do cleanup projects,” says Andrews.

As a space in the lower level of 104 Calhoun is readied to house tools, the upper floor is already buzzing with activity, hence the name for this section of the center — The Hive Neighborhood Resource Cooperative.

The space is available to residents who want to meet, work, or “chill.”

“People sometimes don’t feel very warm and cozy in big, white-wall establishments,” Andrews says. “We’re trying to make this cozy and homey and sometimes it will be messy and that’s OK.”

Engaging younger residents is something Andrews is particularly interested in. He says he will have a few computers available for students who want to work on homework at the center, which has WiFi.

Besides the 2,000 residents of Freedom Acres, give or take a few, the center also is open to groups involved in community engagement work such as JONAH; the Battle Creek Metropolitan Area Mustache Society (Andrews is the founder of the group that mixes fun and charity); and Sprout Urban Farms, a community urban gardening program.

Plans are percolating to offer leadership development and civic engagement training to teach residents how to access city resources to bring positive changes to Freedom Acres, a neighborhood named for its ties to Sojourner Truth.

“This is all about engaging citizens and residents to take the city and their neighborhoods back,” Andrews says. “If they’re doing something or coming up with something clever, this is a free space for them to use.”

Even though Neighborhoods, Inc., owns the building and provides staffing, the center’s programs and services were developed based on the needs residents said they had.

“It (the center) was created by them,” Andrews says. “They live in the neighborhood and all those neighbors helped get this started.”

Recently residents got together to put a fresh coat of paint on a building which used to house a bookstore. That building has been vacant and repeatedly vandalized since the bookstore closed 30 years ago.

“Nobody’s vandalized it since we painted it,” Trammel says. The reason, he says, is simple.

“The residents are looking out for each other,” Trammel says. “And if ‘Tommy’ gets caught doing something he shouldn’t, he may not be getting any more cookies from the lady down the street and everyone else will know what he did.”

Having this accountability is huge in a neighborhood that has seen better times.

Andrews says apathy often comes with knowing your neighborhood is poorly perceived across town.

“Luckily we have people here who are ready to get to work to make things better,” Andrews says. “We have great residents who are willing to stand up. We’re mending the windows, putting in more lights and creating more open spaces.”

Jane C. Parikh is a freelance reporter and writer with more than 20 years of experience and also is the owner of In So Many Words based in Battle Creek.

Photos by Erik Holladay.
Jeremy Andrews, a community organizer at Neighborhoods, Inc., manages The Hive.
Barter will be a currency of exchange at The HIve located in the Freedom Acres area of Battle Creek.
Dozie Ononinuu, left, and Marcus Trammell, a community orginizer with JONAH, talk about streamlining paperwork at The Hive.
The Hive is located in the Freedom Acres area of Battle Creek at 104 Calhoun Street.
Jeremy Andrews, left, and Marcus Trammell help lead the Community Engagement Center called The HIve in Battle Creek, MI.

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February 13, 2011

Love and money

KALAMAZOO — Retailers are hoping more Valentine’s Day red this year — roses, wrapped gifts and boxes of candy — will mean more green.

Purveyors of flowers, jewelry and candy say they are expecting better sales this year versus last because of an improvement in the economy.

Some store owners who are not usually open on Sunday said they plan to be open to accommodate last-minute Valentine’s Day shoppers.

“For the last few days, sales have been up a little,” Rosemary Herder, of Heilman’s Nuts and Confections in Kalamazoo, said Thursday.

Herder co-owns the business with her husband, Dan.

Strawberries dipped in chocolate and dark chocolate caramels are expected to help Heilman’s reach a 25 percent increase in sales this Valentine’s Day compared to 2010.

“I think a lot of people are seeing that the economy is getting better,” Herder said, “but Valentine’s Day encourages them to think about others.”

The average sale at Heilman’s thus far has been 1-pound and 1.5-pound boxes of chocolates or strawberries. Come Monday, Herder said she expects to be “real busy,” but she won’t be open on Sunday because that’s a day of rest for her and her husband.

Pam Porritt, owner of Plainwell Flowers, said she will open her shop on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to avoid the “Monday craziness.”

“There will be no deliveries, but we’ll be taking orders and doing cash and carry,” Porritt said.

While the economy may be getting better in certain areas, Porritt said she doesn’t think florists are feeling it just yet. She said she thinks many people still see flowers as a luxury item. But she hopes her shop will do as well as it did last Valentine’s Day.

“What we’re seeing with customers is they may not be able to afford or want to spend money on a dozen roses ($80 at Plainwell Flowers),” she said. “We’re seeing them order smaller arrangements between $35 and $40, and some people are coming in to buy a single rose or a box of candy.”

Fellow florist Charlie Schafer said he expects his average sale this Valentine’s Day to range from $50 to $75.

“Most people still love the red roses,” said Schafer, who owns Schafer’s Flowers on Stadium Drive. “Whether they buy one rose or 100, they’re still treated the same. For those who prefer something else, we’ve got over 200 varieties of flowers.”

Sales were up 3 percent last year for Schafer, who said he’s looking for a “good 5 to 10 percent increase” this year. He said his store will be open Sunday to take care of last-minute customers.

“We do half or more of our business during the last one or two days,” Schafer said. “It is one of the largest floral holidays there are.”

He said florists do better when Valentine’s Day falls on a weekday “because if it’s a Saturday or Sunday, people tend to go spend money on dinner or movie.”

For Elie Abou-Rjeileh, store manager at Medawar Jewelers, on South Westnedge Avenue, the day of the week makes no difference as far as he knows. Last Valentine’s Day, he said last-minute shoppers took numbers and stood in a line that snaked around his store.

On Thursday, Abou-Rjeileh said there had been steady traffic all day, and he expected an increase leading up to and on Monday. He said the store will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

“Last year was an exceptional Valentine’s Day, but we’re already ahead of last year in day-to-day sales,” Abou-Rjeileh said.

Carrying exclusive rights to the Pandora jewelry line in the Kalamazoo area and the addition of Ice Watches to Medawar’s product lineup has helped boost the store’s sales, he said. While people are still willing to purchase an engagement ring for about $15,000 for their Valentine, Abou-Rjeileh said they can just as easily buy Pandora beads for $30 to $100 each to add to a bracelet.

Key designs are likely to be the big seller for Romantica Jewelers on Oakland Drive. Ray Carrie, owner of Romantica, said the pendants in the shape of a key are available in plain metals or metals set with diamonds.

“We’ve sold more key designs than anything with hearts in it,” Carrie said. “The last few years have been a little soft because of the economic uncertainty. I think we’ve bottomed out and things are starting to turn around.”

Carrie said he won’t open his store on Sunday, but he expects to do more sales this year than last Valentine’s Day, the majority of them between Thursday and Monday.

”Business has picked up and people are willing to spend a little more money,” Carrie said.

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February 10, 2011

Paw Paw consulting company grows

PAW PAW — The one-two combination of market research and strategic planning is enabling Perspectives Consulting Group to maintain its profitability in uncertain economic times.

Gary Goscenski, director of consulting services for Perspectives, said there are a number of individuals and organizations who do strategic planning, but not market research. The ability to offer both is an attractive option for the non-profit sector clients Perspectives serves.

“This gives our clients future planning based on solid, statistically accurate information,” Goscenski said.

Organizations such as foundations, churches, United Ways and schools make up Perspectives client base.  The Paw Paw-based business was established in 1987 by Goscenski and Paul Lane, a professor of marketing at Grand Valley State University, who serves as Perspectives senior consultant.

The two men began laying the foundation for their business while at Western Michigan University where Goscenski was a student and Lane was one of his professors.

“I had a marketing class with Lane,” Goscenski said.  “He took me aside and talked with me about starting a consulting company.  He said if it didn’t work out he’d help me find a job.”

The pair initially started out doing market research for “anyone and everyone.”  Goscenski said within the first six months he and Lane realized they were naturally attracted to working with and understanding the needs of non-profits. Since 1998 this sector has been Perspectives primary focus.

Philosophically, Goscenski said he and Lane develop strategies to help organizations plan based on a timeframe of three to five years.

Even though the nonprofit sector has not been affected by the economic downturn as much as the for-profit sector, Goscenski said those organizations still need to plan to find the best uses for increasingly limited resources. At any given time Perspectives’ 15-employee workforce is working on 10 to 15 projects.

“As the impact started to take hold in 2008, we saw non-profits not getting donor support,” Goscenski said.

As financial contributions began to decrease, the client loads for these nonprofits increased. Goscenski said more and more nonprofits are finding they can no longer be all things to all people.

“There’s clearly been a change here that organizations have had to make,” Goscenski said. “I don’t see them saying that when the economy comes back they will go back to doing what they did before.”

The impact on the non-profit sector prompted Goscenski and Lane to seek opportunities outside of Michigan.  Gosecnski said five years ago 80 percent of their clients would have been Michigan-based.

“We’ve gone from 80 percent to 20 percent,” he said.  “In the last two years we’ve started doing business in 20 states more to the south than anywhere else.

“Growing the business that way has almost been a necessity.”
Goscenski declined to provide financial details about his company, but said that until 2008 Perspectives had experienced annual growth, some of which came from relationships with some of the 1,300 United Ways in the United States.

“We’ve been really fortunate to develop expertise in certain segments.  One is with the United Ways,” Goscenski said. “We’re blessed to have that referral network working for us.

“We have made a conscious decision to make sure key groups like United Ways know about us and are aware of what we do.”

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February 4, 2011

Lessons in dining etiquette at K-College

ETIQUETTE SERVED

by Jane Parikh

Business dining etiquette was on the menu at a dinner for Kalamazoo College seniors last fall.

With copies of a 77-year-old etiquette book on a nearby table, Meredith Parfet, director of Global Research Operations for MPI Research in nearby Mattawan, instructed about 100 “K” seniors on the intricacies of eating with the boss, business colleagues, or prospective employers.

She said the positioning of the knives, forks, and spoons at each place setting provides a visual guide to the order in which each eating utensil is used.
“It’s outside in and top to bottom,” Parfet said.

Her instruction on the proper use of tableware was one of several “Ah-hah!” moments for many of the students at the dinner. Another came when Parfet talked about proper napkin etiquette.

“Place the napkin on your lap when you’re seated, place it on your chair when leaving the table, and place the napkin to the left of your plate when you’re done,” she said.

Parfet’s presentation was part of the College’s twice-yearly, two-day Professional Development Institute (PDI) offered to “K” students in order to prepare them for life after graduation. Sponsored by the College’s Center for Career and Professional Development, the Fall Quarter PDI included workshops and seminars on topics such as networking and job hunting.

As a top level executive with MPI, Parfet has attended many business dinners both in the United States and abroad. She said sometimes the best thing to do is what everyone else is doing.

“Manners are a form of politeness. They show that you’re prepared, put together, and composed,” Parfet said. “Manners are also a way of setting things up so you avoid insulting people.

“The rule I always learned in a cross-cultural exchange is to show humility.”
Kathleen Kruse, a senior majoring in biology, said Parfet’s advice put her mind at ease, particularly when she discussed the art of conversation.

“Stick to discussing current events and don’t discuss politics, religion, or sex,” Parfet said. “Try to find some middle ground. People like to talk about themselves and things related to them.”

Tyrice Fitzpatrick said he wished he’d had this information when he was in Costa Rica for his Study Abroad program. Fitzpatrick, a senior majoring in English with an economics minor, said his knowledge of manners was based on what

“We want you to sit at a business dinner and feel confident. We want you to dazzle them.”

he learned while working at a banquet hall during high school.

“When I was in Costa Rica I was surrounded by the most upper class people there, and I was uncomfortable because I didn’t know what kind of conversation to have,” he said.

Offering students the opportunity to learn about an important but often overlooked part of getting along in the business world was the idea behind the Etiquette Dinner, said Kalamazoo College Provost Michael “Mickey” McDonald.

“The more knowledge you have, the more relaxed you’ll feel,” McDonald said.
Here’s some additional advice from Parfet that likely won’t be heard during commencement activities. Graduates who break bread with the boss or clients should dress conservatively, double-check their breath, turn off the cell phone, take a deep breath, and smile.

“We want you to sit at a business dinner and feel confident,” Parfet said. “We want you to dazzle them.”

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