One year ago, the Calhoun County Challenge was kicked off at Lakeview Square, with a goal of 100,000 pounds.  Saturday, a celebration was held to celebrate the successes of the program – just over 14,000 pounds were lost by a little under 1,200 people.  Not quite 2% of the 90,000 people who need to lose weight have signed up for the Challenge, and only’ 14% of the goal of the Challenge.

The celebration included a number of demonstrations by local fitness businesses.  Below, are a couple of shots of “cardio drumming”, which requires an inflatable exercise ball, a small laundry basket, a pair of drumsticks and some dance music.

Carla Fales of the Area Agency on Agency showed off her stickwork during the demo.

That’ll be on YouTube…

Angela Makoski cooked up some tasty and healthy treats behind the Calhoun Department of Public Health’s table, including fruit pizzas (whole wheat waffles topped with yogurt and fruit) and something delicious and sticky involving granola, orange sections and honey.

City Commissioner Lynn Ward Gray was one of several on hand for the event, including Sherry Sofia, David Walters and Mayor Susan Baldwin.

Here is Sherry chatting with the Mayor.

Mayor Baldwin shared her story of losing 27 pounds since the beginning of the Challenge, and the news that she’s no longer dependent on a cane.

Three staffers from the YMCA were doing a little hooping during the celebration, hula hooping that is.

A number of people joined in the Zumba demonstration.

Here is a short video clip showing the Zumba and Cardio Drumming demonstrations.

Paul Makoski of the Calhoun County Department of Public Health was handing out one of my favorite healthy treats-radishes simmered in vegetable broth.  No, really, they are very tasty.

Two Jim’s: County Commissioner Jim Haadsma and First Gentleman Jim Baldwin.

there were laptops at the event so that people could sign up for the Challenge that day.

We will pump you up! There was also a demonstration of weight lifting by a trio of ladies.

Jim Haadsma and Art Kale from the County Board of Commissioners chat with pro baseball player and Homer native Josh Collmenter.

and then pose for a picture.

It’s time Calhoun County got off our collective fat backsides and got some more exercise.  Even something as simple as  walking-it’s great exercise and really tones your legs and that fat backside I just mentioned.  Eat better-fast food is fast fat.

I’ll be getting more exercise over the next three months-I won a 3-month gym membership at the event.  So there.

“I bet you read a lot.”

“Have you really read all of those books?”

“You must be really smart.”

“You are such a braniac.” 

“You don’t really know how to do that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Shhhh, don’t say that.”

“You must know a lot about computers.”

“Will you fix my computer, it’s got a virus on it?”

“I bet you’d be really good on Jeopardy.”

“Everybody is gifted.”

“You are such an elitist.”

“I bet you didn’t have a lot of friends in high school.”

“You don’t look like a nerd.”

“I bet you were really good at math in school.”

“Can you work a little slower? You are making everyone else look bad.”

“Can you explain how magnets work?”

Don’t believe me? Think on this:

Under the new legislation: One allegation of copyright infringement is all it will take to block an entire website.  They will do so using the same technology used in Syria and the Great Firewall of China in order to ensure that only approved content appears in search engines and is accessible.

That will be the end of YouTube, which has become an integral part of Internet culture.

It will also be the end of any website where memes can be found as they are often based on copyrighted images.

Without YouTube and memes, there will be nothing left on the Interwebs except for endless flamewars and trolling, like there used to be before we had YouTube and memes.

The Internet is going to go back to sucking again.

Why? Because the Music Industry and the Movie Industry are trying to prevent people from making money through the piracy of music and movies.  By censoring the Internet for people who are just looking for some lulz.

And the pirate websites responsible for this anti-piracy legislation, will continue to operate as before. They will just continually change their addresses every time they get blocked.

I do not support any attempts to censor the global Internet, and there have been many over the years, always originating from people who don’t care anything about the Internet, or even understand the technology.

In order to protest censorship, I’m making many of my old posts private temporarily, just to show what the Village Thinker would look like if it was censored.  I’m not going to go back to the beginning, just a couple of months.

The posts will still be there. I will see them. You just won’t be able to see them.  Just like you won’t be able to see your favorite websites, like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, ICanHasCheezburger, SomethingAwful, Ebaum’s World, and many others.

Stop SOPA/PIPA and help keep the Interwebs free.

Oops. No. This is Alistair.

He’s not orange from spray tanning,  doesn’t appear to own hair gel, and isn’t a guido. Far from it, in fact.  Alistair is a recent Vassar graduate.

Not impressed? You should be. I am, and I don’t impress easily.

For the uninformed, Vassar is one of the legendary group of prestigious private liberal arts colleges for women known as the Seven Sisters.  Unlike the other sisters, Vassar is now co-ed.  The others, with the exception of one that has merged with Harvard, are still women only.   The Seven Sisters are all counterparts to the formerly male-only universities known as the Ivy League.  Prior to becoming co-ed, Vassar’s trustees rejected a merger with Ivy League sibling university, Yale. Seriously. They said no to Yale.

When I asked him why he chose Vassar, I found out that he’d been swimming competitively since middle school, and Vassar offered him the best opportunity to continue that sporting activity.   When it came to what he liked about Vassar, “There are no core classes we had to take, we were free to explore and take whatever classes we liked.” That is a true liberal arts education. He also noted that the school has a nice campus.

He majored in Urban Studies, with a focus on grassroots sustainability.

While he was in college he interned one summer in Washington, D.C., doing policy work on public transit. While he was there, during the summer of 2009, he noted, “I saw the climate bill collapse and fall apart due to a lack of government action.” It was then that he decided, “there has to be a better way.”

According to a recent piece on the Huffington Post, the 2012 Farm Bill is a Climate Bill. Which brings us to what on earth someone like Alistair would be doing in a town like Battle Creek, Michigan?

Alistair is participating in Green Corps, a “field school for environmental organizing” according to their website, whose mission is to “teach the next generation of environmental leaders the strategies and skills they’ll need to win tomorrow’s environmental battles”.  As a result, he is assigned to Food and Water Watch, a non-profit which “works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced.”

Food and Water Watch is running a campaign to lobby for a Fair Farm Bill.  Battle Creek is one of a number of cities in Michigan who have an organizer resident in our community.  Alistair will be here for the next couple of months, organizing, lobbying, and working to ensure that the new Farm Bill ensures that the family farms which have been dying out rapidly over the last few decades in favor of factory farmers like Monsanto are able to compete against the corporate juggernauts which not only control our food system, but use farming practices that are unsustainable, questionable, cruel and downright unhealthy.

These are issues that local organizations like Good Food BC and the Fair Food Network have been working to make us aware of, by screening documentaries like Fresh and Food Inc. I grew up around small farmers and I have seen some documentaries on factory farming before, and those were pretty tame to me, but shocking to some who hadn’t seen what happens when you scale farming up to that level.

Alistair is working on scheduling the screening of another documentary as part of the Fair Farm Bill campaign.  He is also preparing for the kickoff event of the campaign on January 19, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm at First United Methodist Church, in the fellowship hall.

I’d recommend this kickoff event to local activists interested in doing some organizing and learning some skills, as part of the activities will be breakout sessions which include training on organizing.  So, come out and welcome Alistair to our activist community, learn something new, and enjoy refreshments, as well.

You can also say hello to Alistair at the Michigan Family Farms Conference on Saturday, January 14 at Lakeview High School, from 8:00 am to 4:40 pm.  He will be tabling there. Say hi to me, too. I’ll be there with my camera.

Today, he posted an open letter to the Mayor on facebook, and with his permission, I”m sharing the letter with my Village Thinker readers.

Dear Mayor Baldwin and members of the City Commission,

My name is David Barnes and I ask that you respect the Deaf Community and advocate for our needs:

1. We need closed captioning at the local Movie Theater and the District Manager is avoiding us and not responding to our emails. Can you help us make contact with him?

2. Police and Fire should be working with Deaf Community in their training to prevent our frustration with the communication barriers. Deaf Community, Police and Fire should take time to learn American Sign Language.

3. Battle Creek employees should provide post-storm cleanup to Deaf people with disabilities at no charge.

4. We need to set up a Deaf Awareness Week in downtown of Battle Creek to provide education to people.

David can be found on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbarnesjr

If anyone on the City Commission is interested in learning more about Deaf culture and the needs of the Deaf community, let me know, and I’ll introduce you to a few friends of mine, including Valoree Boyer who is the Executive Director of DeafLINK.

The worst thing for me was the loss of my constant companion who has been with me since January of 2007.  We had become as one over the years. It was a gradual deterioration of ability and capacity, as what I could once rely on for absolute support became no longer reliable and rock solid. Once inseparable, we spent less and less time together and I sought companionship from others, but nothing could fill that void. Until, I accepted the inevitable and finally replaced my dying Rebel Xti with a Rebel T3i.  It will take a while for the new camera to become an extension of myself (I”m still getting used to all the buttons, but I’m already getting good results from it).  Once the weather warms up again, I plan to return to my roots and do more street photography, looking for the drama in everyday life.

I’m still deciding whether to change how I post my pictures.  I prefer using Facebook for them, because I can organize them into galleries, quickly upload them and then people can share, tag and comment on them.   I wish there was a way to integrate that functionality into WordPress for my blog, but you can’t have everything.  I have a lot of catching up to do on pictures, because I have more photos than time these days.

I need to get my time under control and stop volunteering for everything that comes along. I did drop off a couple of boards because the meetings were conflicting with other meetings and events. Why is it that everyone wants to have their meetings on Thursdays?  About the time I had the decks clear for action, I made friends with another person who runs a non-profit and there goes my time again.   Maybe I just need different friends…

I’ve accepted that haters gonna hate and that although a village is what is needed to raise our children and improve conditions, unless and until people stop dividing everything into “us” vs “them”, that isn’t going to happen and all I can do is live my philosophy and let others talk about how “it takes a village” but not expect that is going to change anything.

In addition to focusing on my street photography, I’m also going to circle back to what I focused on before I started tilting at the windmill of “love thy neighbor”.  Giftedness, particularly advocacy.  I spent most of the holidays studying, and I’ll be writing more about the gifted life.  This is particularly critical now as I’ve built up a circle of friends who are gifted, and most (if not all) of them haven’t the slightest idea that they are.  My preference is dealing with the issue of the gifted adult, but if I end up with another gifted kid to mentor I’ll just have to go back to the absolute misery of dealing with their teachers and administrators.  Somewhere in all of that is another book.

I will continue rousing the rabble, stirring the pot and making trouble.   I won’t stop pointing out corruption and things that are broken, or just stink to high heaven.  We’ll just see who catches my attention this year.

From the Emmett Township Department of Public Safety:

A Battle Creek man was found dead Monday, crushed by a car while allegedly trying to steal a catalytic converter.

Emmett Township Public Safety officers said Joseph T. Harmon, 47, was found dead about 7:54 a.m. Monday under a Ford Taurus.

The car was parked behind Howard’s Ceramics and Gifts at 1512 E. Columbia Ave. in Emmett Township.

Employees of the business were opening on Monday when they noticed legs under the car parked behind the building.

Public Safety Officers used JAWS and rescue equipment to lift the car but Harmon was pronounced dead at the scene. He had last been seen about 9 p.m. on Sunday and apparently had been dead for some time.

Public Safety detectives found a small jack, a hacksaw and hammer under the car with the body and said he apparently raised the car and was attempting to remove the catalytic converter when the car fell off the stand.

At 0830 an armed robbery occurred at Finley’s Restraunt on W. Columbia. A lone gunman entered the store and stole money from the manager. The gunman fled after locking the employees in the freezer. BCPD has a suspect in custody and the investigation is continuing.

Since then, I’ve been on her email newsletter list and I regularly receive emails from her address with articles about radical activism focused on making neighborhoods and communities stronger and healthier.

Yesterday, I received an email from her address that set off alarm bells and raised red flags.

The subject line read “My Terrible Ordeal”. I was surprised by that as she’s been on a book tour promoting her most recent book, and she’s a very positive and upbeat person.

How are you doing? Honestly, I’m doing awful. I came down to London, UK for a short vacation. Unfortunately, I’m experiencing such a rough and frustrating ordeal. I got mugged last night at GUN point by a gang of thugs on my way back from a concert. All cash, credit card and my phone were stolen off me but luckily for me I still have my passports with me.

I’ve reported this case to the Police and also lodged a complain to the Embassy but they are not responding to the matter effectively. It is really difficult for me out here. I am stretched to the hilt and need to clear my bills with the hotel so that I can get on a flight back home tonight. I’d really appreciate it if you can help me out of this difficult situation.
Grace.

Keep in mind that I’ve only met Grace Boggs once, although a good friend of mine knows her quite well (which is how I had the chance to visit her). I do not know her well enough for her to write me a very personal plea for financial help.

There were a number of issues with the email, as well, which indicated that she did not write it. A lot of them are because she’s an American, and the issues indicate the email was not written by an American.

-She would have said “London, England”, not London, UK.
-She would not have used the phrase “came down to” in reference to London. London is not down from Detroit.
-She also would not have used the expression is a “lodged a complain”. Not only is complaint spelled wrong, but lodging a complaint is a Britishism.

In addition, she notes that she lost her credit cards and requires cash to clear her hotel bills. That doesn’t sound right, because she should have been able to deal better with the card issuers to get replacement cards (even in London).

None of this was necessary to determine that this wasn’t from Grace. Grace Boggs is 96 years old and when I met her she was using a walker. If she had decided to go to a concert, she’d have gotten into a taxi or other vehicle right at the door. And, she would not have been alone and unprotected.

Nice try. Interesting that of all the people to do this with the perpetrator of this attempted crime of defrauding money out of people chose a world-famous activist.

Just to be a jerk and see if I could get more information, I replied to the email with “how can I help”.

I got a reply with some information, but nothing usable by law enforcement to track the person who had taken over Grace Boggs account and was using it to try and scam money.

Am glad you replied back. I am stranded out here and needed an urgent help. I have nothing left on me except my travel passports.Well, I will like you to help me with $980 to sort my hotel bills so that I won’t miss my return flight as it leaves few hours from now. I promise to refund it as soon as am back tomorrow. You can have it wired to me through any Western Union outlet nearer to you. It is faster and safer at the moment. Below is the information for the transfer:

Thanks.
Grace.

So, I wrote back to the scammer.

Dear Grace,

I can’t imagine why you would have interpreted my offer to mean cash assistance. As a world-famous activist and author, I know that money isn’t your greatest need right now, just access to it. I’m very surprised that the Embassy was not helpful. They’ll wish they had been when the media is finished with them. Not to mention the White House.

What a terrible thing to happen to someone as internationally-renowned as yourself. Not to mention the cruelty of someone mugging a 96-year-old woman at gunpoint.

But, don’t worry. In addition to contacting the media, I’ve also contacted the Detroit Police Department, and your staff at the Boggs Center. They have contacted American Express and they will have a new card delivered to your hotel today.

Have a safe trip back to America from England.

Phillips is seen here unloading a rented UHaul trailer packed with produce, breads, dairy and eggs. The man who appears to be a very ‘hands on’ CEO, got a good workout as he had three skids worth of food from the Food Bank to be sorted and distributed.

He is seen here talking with Janet, who manages the Spring Grove Hills Community House.

Janet and volunteers from her community house pose for a photo on the back of a pickup truck loaded with comestibles.

From the “everybody’s a comedian” file. I wanted Bill Phillips in the photo with Janet and her crew, and I said, “I don’t want a posed photo.” This is what I got.

In addition to Phillips, a number of his staff helped out with the unloading, sorting and distribution at the Calhoun Street Community House. Thanks to Herb, Fausto, Dawn, and all the other nice people whose names I can’t remember. Here two NIBC staffers passing some produce.

Although the distribution was organized on short notice, and there was no time to advertise that the food was available, word spread through the neighborhood and 47 families were served, just in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

The food distributions will continue every Tuesday from noon until 1:00 pm. If you or your community group or church group would like to donate a lunch hour to help feed families in need, by helping to distribute food at the Calhoun Street Community House, please let me know or contact Neighborhoods Inc. at 968-1113.

Also, if you know of a good used enclosed trailer for sale (at least 12 feet long), let me know.