PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian Says Think Locally in 2010 (Michigan, I'm Going to Save You!!)

I wanted to make changes this year.  I wanted this year to be different.  Some of this will come by chance, but I think some of it has to be the direct result of efforts I put forth as well.
So in 2010, I am thinking locally!  I am going to make sure I shop locally even more than I already do, I will support local business people, bands, artists, visionaries and service providers, I will donate to local charities (as well as my other regulars, like the ASPCA), and I will get involved in more local activities.
Now, I happen to live in Michigan, so the following links mostly affect Michiganders.  BUT, there's nothing wrong with supporting another place's local economy, so non-Michiganders, feel free to browse as well.  There are some great large companies and small businesses in Michigan and tons of talent.

Eaton Rapids, Michigan

Check it out:

First of all, I have some resources to help you find more local stuffs:
Michigan's Official Website
Pure Michigan: Michigan's Official Travel and Tourism Site
Michigan Department of Agriculture: Give the Gift of a Michigan Made Product
Michigan Women's Marketplace
The Michigan Business Directory
Absolute Michigan: All Michigan, All The Time

Candles, Handmade Goodies, and Specialty Items (In person and Online!):

Great Lakes Candle Company, Lansing, MI
With Eyes Lifted: My friend Jessica's Etsy Shop, handmade in Michigan
Bohemia Too: Clothing, Accessories, Beads and Jewelry Crafting Supplies, Imports, Handmade, Gifts,   Novelty, Books, Etc. Located in Grand Rapids, MI.
Finders Keepers Variety Store: Located in Three Rivers, MI
Rustic Ridge Creations, Flint, MI
Island City Candle Company, Eaton Rapids, MI

The BIG Stores:
Meijer, Based in Grand Rapids, MI
Jiffy, Chelsea Milling Company, Chelsea, MI
Faygo: The Original Party Pop!, Detroit, MI
Gordon Food Service, Grand Rapids, MI
Kellogg's, Battle Creek, MI
Spartan Stores, Based in Grand Rapids, MI


Fine Arts, Entertainment, Tourism, and Local Talent:
Brena: An Alternative, Rock, Pop Band from Grand Rapids, MI
The Purple Rose Theatre (Jeff Daniels), Located in Chelsea, MI
Kelsey Kohlenberger's Voice Studio, Grand Rapids, MI
Goodrich Quality Theaters
Celebration Cinema

Heritage Guitar, Inc., Kalamazoo, MI
MichiganArtists.Com
Michigan Artist's Gallery, Sutton's Bay, MI
Elderly Instruments, Lansing, MI
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, Paradise, MI
Michigan Historical Museum, Lansing, MI
The Marshall Historical Society, Marshall, MI
Arts and Entertainment on Absolute Michigan
Frankenmuth: Michigan's Little Bavaria
Mackinac Island
Eminem, Amazingly Talented Rapper from Detroit, MI
The English Inn: Restaurant and Pub, Eaton Rapids, MI
Poetry Society of Michigan
Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, MI
Children's Ballet Theater of Michigan
City of East Lansing: Parks, Recreation, and Arts
Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI
Mackinaw City, MI
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
MISC. Michigan Goodness:
Quality Dairy
Yahoo Local Information on Darb's, Mason, MI
MichiganWeed.Org: Informative Website on Marijuana in Michigan, Run by Local East Lansing Residents
Mark's Hot Diggity Dog Stand, Based in Eaton Rapids, MI
PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian: A Michigan Based Blog of a Modern Hippie, Bohemian, Free-Spirit Living in East Lansing, MI
Weird Michigan

Local Charities:
Greater Lansing Food Bank
Woldumar Nature Center, Lansing, MI
Mother Teresa House, Lansing, MI
Michigan Audubon, Lansing, MI
Ele's Place: A Healing Center for Grieving Children, Lansing, MI
Capital Area Humane Society
John Ball Zoo Society, Grand Rapids, MI
The Humane Society of Kent County
Grand Rapids Community Foundation, Grand Rapids, MI
Crash's Landing: Cat Rescue and Placement Center, Grand Rapids, MI

Michigan Schools, Colleges and Universities:
Grand Valley State University (My Alma Mater)
Central Michigan University 
Calvin College
Michigan State University (Where most of my house mates attend school)
University of Michigan
Western Michigan University
Lansing Community College
Grand Rapids Community College
Jackson Community College
Douglas J. Aveda Institute
Ferris State University
Eastern Michigan University

Michigan State Parks, Campgrounds, Natural Wonders:
Michigan DNRE: Natural Resources and Environment
Sleeping Bear Dunes
Mackinac Island
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
Tahquamenon Falls State Park

                                                           

Don't see the Michigan related item you were looking for?  Add links to great, local, Michigan resources in the comments section below, please!
I will probably continue to update this list...  I think it will be a great resource for me, and maybe others, to help us do more locally.
Enjoy!
Peace and Love,
Meagan

"And What Does the New Year Bring, PonchoMeg, My Modern Bohemian Friend?"

I say, "It Brings a New Life.  I am Reborn Daily So That I May Always Learn Everything All Over Again...and Change the World."

What a life I lead.  I never quite know what to expect of others, myself, or I suppose, life in general... but I think that might be a good thing.  I mean, they say to "expect the unexpected," because it helps you to prepare for the un-prepare-able, maintain flexibility and spontaneity, and "go with the flow..." so, I mean... it can't be all bad to be a little surprised from day to day.

I feel like this whole month has been full of unexpected events and happenings though, which is getting me pretty excited about this year.  Is this the year that I will look back to when I am older and go "Yeah... that's when it all REALLY got started!"?  Maybe...

Let's go back.  What has happened?

Well, New Year's Eve is a part of all this too, I mean.... come on.  But anyway, our New Year's Eve celebrations as a house started at the house, spinning records, jamming out, hanging out, whatever.  Then, we headed out to see Cloud Magic and Project Object.  What a sweet show!  We didn't stay the whole time, but we stayed for awhile.  Then... back at the house... we had more music, more fun, a lot of picture taking, and we even gave someone an impromptu haircut! When the ball dropped there was kissing, hugging, cheering, and laughing all around and much merriment.  Since then, I have felt changed like this was (not to quote High School Musical or anything) the start of something new.

I went back to work after Winter Break and apparently I have some kind of rekindled creativity that I haven't really felt for almost 3 years.  I am writing all new activities and lessons, I am incorporating so many new things into pre-existing lesson ideas, I am planning more concerts than required, AND I am working on Music in Our Schools Month and Reading Month activities in March.  

The biggest education related creativity burst came when I decided to write an activity about making the right choices and learning about positive and negative consequences for Wacky Wednesday. (Wacky Wednesday is when all the grade levels come in as a grade level and do team building and character building activities.  It is run by me, the art teacher, the computer teacher, and the gym teacher.)

The activity was a bit like a choose your own adventure book, which I loved as a kid, and still love now (especially the Vampire Express one).  The story was that the kids were a part of a tribe, and they had to get 4 things for their tribe: Food and Water, Shelter, Transportation, and Entertainment.  To get these things, the students had to make choices.  I had "bad" choices such as: to get food and water...steal it from a neighboring tribe. The consequence for this: they had to sit in silence for two whole minutes and come up with better solutions for getting food and water.  I had "pretty good" choices such as: to get food and water, send everyone in the village out to get it.  If they chose that one, they had to run four laps around the gym to get home because they remembered they left the gate open, and with no one left behind to guard the village, an open gate could mean theft, destruction, sabotage, and other acts by other tribes.  AND I had the "best" choices, such as: sending some people of the village to gather food and water and leaving the rest behind to watch and protect the village.  If they did this, they got large amounts of food and water (pretend) and got to celebrate with a dance party for a few minutes (real).  It was a great activity.  Some of the other things that could happen throughout included:

*As a smaller team, creating a shelter out of a chair, a crate, a hula hoop, two fun noodles and a blanket
*Having two people team up and learn how to use each other as a wheelbarrow
*"Wagon" races.  The concept:: the animals that pull the wagon can't pull so people have to instead.  So I had 3 kids on each team- one to be in the box and two to pull.  The boxes are each set on a blanket which is held onto by the rider and used to pull the box by the pullers.  It is really fun.
*Learning a new game, song, or dance.  Such as "Bluebird, Bluebird,"  "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and/or "The Chicken Dance."
*And lots more

Alright, enough about that.  Though I will say I am glad my creativity is sending out magical sparks at work and at home.

I actually started writing a song.  I haven't written a new song in ages.  I've jammed, but I haven't just sat down at the piano to write in a long time.  Until a few weeks ago, when I scribbled words on an envelope (the only seemingly available paper at the time) with such fervor (yes fervor) that I had a verse and a chorus in under 10 minutes.  Being able to read these scribblings NOW is a little difficult, as the pen was running out of ink.  But you know, I was so determined to get my words on paper that as the pen ran out of ink, I simply pressed harder and carved my words into the envelope. haha


Some of those words are:

"I... never thought that I...
would change completely overnight and drift away...
Oh I... didn't realize...
that to change my life and all my ways,
I'd thrive and live the best of my days!

How could I know?
How can you know?
An unknown dream I was imagining...
How could I know?
How can one know?
But now I'm waking up and living in this dream... I... know!"

Writing this song inspired me and so I have decided to start working with my friend Jeff again on some music stuffs.  The thing about Jeff is that he seems so easy to work with, he is inspiring and motivating because he seems to really believe in my abilities, and of course he is a skilled musician himself as well.  We also seem to kind of feel a lot of similar feelings when it comes to music, and we basically want to spread love and give people an experience that they can truly be a part of, fall in love with, and remember.  So we will see where that goes.

In other news, we have spent a lot of time hanging out with friends at "The House."  Mainly, we are trying to convince people to live with us as J. no longer lives here. (She moved out in December...) :(
Mostly we are working on a new J. This J. is a male, and he is way cool.  He plays in like 30 bands (just kidding... kind of) and he is a very creative, chill, amazing kind of guy.  I want him to move in because he fits in with all of us so well (and he's not bad for eye candy either! haha)

This past weekend I wasn't around "The House" as much, but that is because I went to Grand Rapids, MI for the Michigan Music Conference.  I also stayed with my friend Kelsey, met up with Jeff and lots of Kelsey's theatre friends, and did some karaoke.  So, I had a little 2 day-vacay!  Yay!

What else happened this month?  Well, my mom's birthday was on the 11th.  It was an extra awesome birthday celebration because we went to see "Avatar."  Between watching "Avatar" the first time and the second time, I saw a lot of behind the scenes info. as to just how much went into creating the characters, so when I saw it again, I had an even deeper appreciation for Zoe Saldana and the other great actors who played Na'vi or Avatars.  Plus it makes me feel changed and new each time I see it.

This new year MUST be full of changes, (not so much in my world happenings; though there will probably be changes there too) but mostly they will be changes in me.  Inside of my heart, soul, mind, and spirit... I can feel it.

And I am sure I will be writing about... so stay in touch.

Peace and Love,
Meagan

Cloud Magic

Living in a college town has it's benefits. One of the best benefits is the plethora of artists who seem to gravitate toward the local, college town locales. There are poets, painters, instrumentalists, singers, etc. and they can be found in coffee shops, at festivals, and at the local bars.

Recently, I have gotten the chance to see a group of artists perform together at a local bar and I have to say... I was very impressed. I had heard this band's latest cd already, but seeing them live only added to my high esteem for them. The band? Cloud Magic, an amazingly funky, psychedelic rock jam band. 

Why do I like Cloud Magic so much? Well, first of all... they're good. Really good. And it's nice to see raw, local talent that already sounds like a seasoned band. Secondly, they're doing something outside the realm of what is "popular" in music today.

"The fact that on their Myspace page they list The Beatles, Phish, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, and David Bowie as some of their influences is definitely no surprise, as their musical stylings drip with such influences. But the wonderful thing about Cloud Magic is that there is something about them that cannot be identified with a band of the past... there is something about Cloud Magic that is distinctly unique. Perhaps it's the obvious fact that Cloud Magic is playing music far removed from today's modern pop music scene, but arguably, music that is much more valuable. When one is immersed in the sounds of Cloud Magic, the world is at peace. One can see a future painted with beauty, art, and love." -An excerpt from "Cloud Magic," an article I wrote for Squidoo.

Finally... the members of Cloud Magic are just really groovy people. I met lead singer/guitarist/founding member Dave through my roommates, and I knew right away that he was a great guy. Need proof, check out what Dave had to say about his purpose in life:

"My purpose on earth is to speak the message of unity and understanding. I am here to move people, who may have their light switches turned off, not realizing. I attempt to flip every last one on full blast. Wake Up. Love one another, if you want to save your self, save one another and the universe around you."

Since meeting Dave, I have also met Sarah, another important member of Cloud Magic. Just hearing her voice and the emotion she delivers through it made me think she had to be a magical person, and after spending less than 5 minutes with her on our first introduction, I could tell that she really was. She is genuinely sweet and BONUS...she's studying to be a music teacher. A girl after my own heart!

The other two guys I haven't gotten a chance to really hang out with, but they both seem nice and if they are making that inspiring music with Dave and Sarah, they've gotta be pretty cool.

So yeah... I like Cloud Magic. I may even love Cloud Magic. Check them out for yourself and see what you think.