Empowering women in the forgotten corners of the world

Mindful Metropolis, June issue

Kathy Lane, Regional Communications Manager for CARE USA and a Chicago native, works to empower women in impoverished countries through economic opportunity, education and by fighting their social and political marginalization.

You’ve heard of “care packages”. As a college student, you may have received one, packed with goodies, from your mother while studying for final exams. You may even have sent your own care package overseas, to a soldier or to someone in need of assistance. But did you know that CARE Package is a registered trademark? Did you know that the earliest CARE Packages (“Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe,” by their initial acronym) cost $10 and were sent exclusively to Europeans in 1946 following the death, destruction and hunger wrought by the Second World War?

Since the 1940s, Atlanta-based CARE has extended its reach to fight poverty around the world. Today, CARE stands for “Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc.” and focuses particularly on empowering marginalized women in developing countries through micro-loans, education, and lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.

Chicago native Kathy Lane has worked at CARE for three years and directs the foundation’s Windy City office, whose walls are decorated with posters of smiling — empowered — women in countries around the world: Sudan, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India (CARE currently works in 66 different countries). She spoke with Mindful Metropolis in early May, just days before a summit in our nation’s capital, during which 450 CARE activists met with their Senators and Representatives and encouraged them to stand up for marginalized women around the world.

Lane discussed CARE’s evolution, corporate giving, how poverty disproportionately affects women, the benefits of empowering them as opposed to giving handouts, her most gratifying moments with CARE, and how President Obama’s lofty words bode well for fighting poverty.

How has CARE evolved since the end of World War II?

CARE has been known historically as an emergency relief and humanitarian organization. Historically, the older generations know us for CARE Packages. Since then we’ve evolved into more a sustainable program to fight global poverty on the ground.

With decades of experience, we realized that women are disproportionately affected by global poverty. Seventy percent of people that live on $2 or less a day are women or girls. Not only are they disproportionately affected by poverty, but we also know through research in the international development field that women really are the key to overcoming poverty. They invest in their families; educated women have fewer children; educated women put their girls to school; educated women give vaccinations to their children. The domino effect is great. So we’re slowly moving this ship of emergency relief to really empower women in the world.

When did this shift within CARE come about?

The evolution from emergency relief to focusing specifically on women has been a long and gradual change — it wasn’t like one day we woke up and said we’ve been doing the wrong thing all this time. Worldwide, I don’t know. I assume that women have always been disproportionately affected by poverty.

Slowly we started asking ourselves how we were going to realign our mission. We’re going to start working on the ground in the developing world to alleviate poverty. It was a slow evolution for us, and I would say that because women have been disproportionately affected, we’ve worked disproportionately with women. Our marketing in the last three years has tried to raise awareness of our work with women.

The campaign [has sought to show] that women are powerful. She has the power to change her world. You have the power to help her do it. We always use positive imagery. Powerful, not powerless, whereas some organizations will show powerless people, with flies on their face, whatever. We want to show that they are powerful: they just don’t have the resources.

We also have a very strong advocacy team. In fact, our national conference where we lobby policy makers is next week on Capitol Hill. We also have volunteers. Our programs are in the poorest nations in the world, but there are other ways you can volunteer. You can host a dinner; you can organize a coffee hour with friends; you can show screenings (of our documentaries). There are lots of ways you can volunteer and help spread the word.

How did you learn about CARE? And what drew you to the organization?

I have a Masters Degree in Public Administration, so I wanted to work in a public or nonprofit field. My life took a detour, and I lived in Finland for several years working for Nokia. While that was a rich experience, personally, I wanted to get back to the States and into the nonprofit field after eight years.

What some corporations do is not only donate to their charities, but they also offer an executive on loan, where they give an employee to their nonprofit for a year. They pay the salary but you’re actually working on behalf of the organization. So I was able to be an executive on loan to [Nokia’s] charity of choice, which happened to be in Baltimore. I returned to the States to work for the International Youth Foundation in Baltimore on a one-year assignment. I’m originally from the Chicago area, and when I started looking for a job in Chicago in the nonprofit field, that’s when I first learned of CARE.

Speaking of Nokia, how can companies in the private sector best fight world poverty?

They generally do it through two main ways. One is by donating. Generally corporations will find a nonprofit that’s complimentary to their core business. We work with Cargill, which is a major agricultural company working around the world. We have agricultural programs. There are different synergies. The other way is through employee engagement. Corporations usually have a corporate responsibility department because they not only want to donate but they want to get their employees involved. That could mean donating, but also volunteering.

Are Scandinavian companies better at giving?

No, not really. They are socialistic countries, so the giving mentality is very different. [Scandinavians] are used to paying higher taxes, so they are used to their government taking care of these things. Actually, the United States is probably more mature when it comes to corporate giving. European countries look to the United States, because we are on the cutting edge of corporate and social responsibility. It’s a much newer practice in Europe. They’re just getting their feet wet. They’re catching up quickly, but it’s just a different mentality.

Are current events and world politics changing in which countries CARE will focus in the months and years ahead?

We are definitely a non-governmental organization. Our programs in countries are our own, but we try to work with the blessings of the local government. As political unrest arises throughout the world, of course [global poverty increases]. Wars always lead to more people going hungry, more people out of work. It’s a domino effect. We often work in conflict areas as political situations arise there. When it gets too dangerous, we pull out. When a situation arises where our top management believes that we’re putting our workers at risk in the country, we close up.

What are the benefits of working alongside women, and empowering them, as opposed to strictly offering financial support?

It’s the message: “She has the power to change the world, you have the power to help her do it.” She has the power, because we already know that if you educate them rather than just give them the money, women will have fewer children. You invest in their education; invest in helping them start their own business; invest in ensuring that they have the number of kids they want, and ensuring that those kids they have are healthy. You’re investing in a whole family, because how she raises her children will depend on how she herself was raised.

If you just give them a handout, she won’t have the education to know what to do with that. Are they going to invest in a business? In some cases they need to put food on the table, but it’s more about investing in long-term solutions than in a quick fix.

Have the individuals, corporations and foundations that fund CARE’s work been more reluctant to give during this recession?

I think that [nonprofits are experiencing that] across the board right now. Everybody’s scaling back and everybody’s been hit by this economic downturn. We have a couple donors that have given more because they realize they have the capacity to give more, and because those in the poorest places of the world are more adversely affected than those in the United States.

When you talk about tightening belts in the United States, we’re dealing with people who have no belts to tighten. They’ve already been trying to figure out who in their family is going to eat. They’ve already been trying to figure out who in their family gets medicine. It’s day-to-day survival. Some donors understand that.

We’re doing our best not to cut our programs; we’re cutting in other ways. We’re ensuring our donors, our corporate givers, our people on the ground and our beneficiaries that they will be the last to be impacted.

What are the greatest causes of global poverty (especially for women) that CARE works to solve?

One is marginalization. Women don’t enjoy the same levels of rights throughout the world. Clearly, in the developed world, women are still marginalized to a great degree. It’s a domino effect, it’s complex, and everything relates to another. If she’s marginalized, can she even work for herself? Can she leave the house during the day to tend to the fields? Can she walk her children to school? There’s a whole host of problems with having women who are not treated as full-class citizens within the countries and therefore can’t be full members of society, make money, or just support their families, work in the field, take their kids to school.

Also, what happens when her husband dies? If I’m completely dependant on my husband … and this often happens, a husband dies of HIV, or in a conflict situation — often times in the countries we’re working in, the husband’s family owns the property and the woman is literally on the streets and she can’t find a job because she’s not able to work because no one would hire a woman, especially a widowed woman. That her husband died of HIV is somehow her fault because of the stigma around HIV, not to mention marginalization, lack of economic access and basic human rights.

CARE works to avert these causes of global poverty. Our focus is on economic empowerment. We’ve developed a concept [in Africa] called the “village savings & loan”. It’s extremely popular. We bring a group of women together that otherwise probably wouldn’t be able to get a commercial loan. These women start their own bank and self-select their own leader. We teach them the basics and parameters of this bank. We start them off with a very small loan, which is repaid. And then they give loans to a group of women.

The beauty is that it’s self-monitored. It’s tied to your respect in the community. They decide [which women in the community] get these loans, and then the women pay back the village savings & loan with interest. The repayment rate on these types of loans is 98 percent. That is unheard of. The banking commercial industry is happy to reach 90 percent.

[The repayment rate] has a lot to do with women doing what they’re told. They’re taught to be good girls. You get a loan, you pay it back. But it’s also this idea of bringing it to the community and letting them self-monitor. This has been very successful.

Tell me about CARE’s lobbying work in Washington.

Our programs are independent of local governments, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try to influence local politics. We have the programming, which is apolitical. Then we have the advocacy arm, which generally works in the United States to influence how U.S. policy influences the world.

[Our experience in Washington, D.C. in early May] was phenomenal, in these economic times, [getting] 450 citizens to pay their own way, pay for their own hotel, plus $100 to attend the conference. The first day we taught people about global poverty and the issues we wanted to lobby on Capitol Hill. On the second day we had meetings set up for these 450 people to meet with their Congressmen and women. You feel so empowered. On the second day you’re literally in the House, in the Senate, you’re walking and meeting with your Representatives or Senators or their staff, lobbying on behalf of poor women and children around the world.

[Illinois Democratic] Senator [Dick] Durbin has been a phenomenal supporter of this legislation, which has very positively impacted people around the world. [Illinois Democratic Representative] Jan Schakowsky is a great friend of CARE — the Obamas, too.

Has government lobbying become any easier for CARE with Obama in the White House?

I think it’s too early to tell. We can probably make assumptions. He’s already made some pretty positive statements. In his [acceptance speech in Grant Park on Nov. 4] he mentioned the poor “huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world”. He hasn’t forgotten that he is, in so many ways, the leader of the world, and he’s not going to forget the poor people around the world. Since then he’s made several statements that indicate that he will be very supportive of foreign assistance around the world.

Having said that, Bush was a fantastic supporter. He actually donated more money to HIV/AIDS in Africa than any other president in history. We had other issues with Bush as far as condom use and [promoting] abstinence. But as far as HIV/AIDS in Africa, he was a great proponent.

Given that you work with women, is there a reproductive rights angle?

We have a very strong maternal health and reproductive rights unit. It’s part of this effort to refocus our programming to highlight three life stages: three milestones in a woman’s life that can affect how she lifts herself and her family out of poverty: one is a girl’s education; the second one is maternal health and reproductive rights; the third one is economic empowerment. Those are the three cornerstones that we’re using to beef up our programming and to raise awareness around.

What have been a couple of your most gratifying experiences while at CARE?

I had the opportunity to travel to India [Uttar Pradesh, the poorest state in the country] in late February to visit CARE programs there. I had been told to brace myself for the abject poverty — that it would be depressing. I braced myself for a difficult trip, but I was surprised. It was an inspiring trip. We got to see [CARE’S] programs and how these people’s lives are much better off. The communities are much better off. The whole level of income in the community is better off.

There was a girl’s school called “Udaan,” which in Hindi means “flight.” It’s an accelerated education program for girls who are marginalized because they’re of a lower caste or because their parents can’t afford [to send them] to school. [Girls between the ages of 10 and 14] take this accelerated learning program, and they learn five grade levels within 11 months. They live at the school, which for many is much better than their home life — a dirt hut but a very nice school. They live and work, sleep and study in this same area. They learn basic things, such as going to the bathroom and washing their hands, basic hygiene.

They go from basic skills to reading and writing, arithmetic and reciting poetry. It’s an amazing transformation. The girls have nutritious and reliable meals every day. They go from not being able to use the bathroom to being able to ask questions. They are teaching these girls that they have a voice and not to be scared, to raise their hand and have an opinion. On these trips we got to speak with these kids and see how happy and healthy they were. 85 percent after those 11 months will continue in public schools.

Another thing we do is work with local, government-run schools and train teachers to help them organize their classroom and help them with curriculum. At one school we visited, CARE worked closely with a classroom next door to a preschool that was not government-run [and not supported by CARE]. The difference between those two classrooms was breathtaking. The class where CARE provided support had cream-colored floors and bright colorful mats the kids sat on. The kids all looked clean and happy and participated. The room was full of stimulating materials and maps education materials in the corners and a chalkboard. The teachers were engaged and dynamic.

The next room was so sad. There was junk in the room, dangerous stuff like chords and iron rods that the preschoolers could get hurt on, dirt floors and a little dirty mat. The teachers were not engaged at all. The difference was striking.

Mr. Furry Fur Fur and his friendly earth friends

Mindful Metropolis, June issue

My three-year-old niece, Gwendolyn, hasn’t yet seen “An Inconvenient Truth,” and if she had, the complicated science featured in Al Gore’s documentary about global climate change — and the call for humans to protect their planet — would have gone right over her little head.

“Mr. Furry Fur Fur and his friendly earth friends,” on the other hand, was right in her playhouse. She watched, laughed and danced to this narrative, 50-minute DVD, which is produced by Friendly Earth Friends, LLC, and intended for children ages 3-6. This is the story of Mr. Furry Fur Fur, Blink the butterfly, Flutter from Sunny City, Scribbles the squirrel and Pete the possum — animated, talking animals who throw a surprise birthday party for their wise old friend, Mr. Tree, in the park on the edge of a city.

According to the DVD’s jacket: “This show is about why we love the Earth and all of Earth’s creatures. It is an independent production created by impassioned artists. Mr. Furry Fur Fur brings safe entertainment to children with a positive message inspiring critical thinking, love and peace while encouraging children to go outside and play.”

First, though, the animals have to determine how old their wise companion is turning (hint: count the rings across Mr. Tree’s radius), secure enough candles for the occasion, make sure someone brings cupcakes to the party, dance until the music stops, and then clean up after the party while making sure to recycle everything that can be reused.

FriendlyEarthFriends.com is the creation of Chicago musicians Christine and Tony, who aired their idea last year at Party for the Planet at the Brookfield Zoo and at Chicago’s Green Festival. “Mr. Furry Fur Fur” is their first DVD. Christine and Tony’s mission, according to the website, is to: “encourage children to explore, learn and grow from their natural environment; chart the boundaries of a safe, creative space in which children are free to experience and reimagine their world; empower children and their guardians to be voices within and supporters of their communities, and highlight the symbiotic nature of our relationship with the Earth and its creatures.”

My niece and I viewed the DVD on my laptop one Saturday morning, and as soon as Mr. Furry Fur Fur appeared on screen to announce Mr. Tree’s birthday party, she quit asking to watch “The Wizard of Oz” (for what would have been the fourteenth time). Soon Gwendolyn was dancing along with the characters (to an energizing, Eurobeat), and she didn’t ask me even once how they were able to talk, dance and recycle. It seems anything is possible in the mind of a three-year-old.

Before ending, the movie asks child viewers to draw a picture of Mr. Tree and send it to Christine and Tony at P.O. Box 3445, Oak Park, IL, 60303 (you can see the drawings done by other youngsters on their blog: www.friendlyearthfriends.wordpress.com), and that sent Gwen scurrying to find paper and crayons.

I decided I’d save the science lesson on how trees produce the air we breath for our next visit.

Macho delicacies in Little Village

CenterStageChicago.net

You too can be a ranchero eating macho delicacies to prove your manhood. La Casa de Samuel in Little Village serves grilled alligator, rabbit, wild boar, rattle snake — even bull’s testicles. This food will make you want to jump into the saddle on display in the restaurant, and ride (but please, don’t take your guns to town). Or bring a friend here, ask for the menu en español, order for them, and don’t tell them until afterwards that they’ve eaten a bull’s cojones.

Samuel Linares, himself, owns a ranch in the Mexican state of Guerrero, and he loves to hunt. The delicacies here don’t strike him as unique. But if they’re a little ambitious for your taste, go with the more traditional south-of-the-border fare: a fajita, a steak or the killer huevos rancheros, served with fresh, locally made tortillas. The prices here won’t make you reach for the hilt: The traditional Mexican items run $8-$15, whereas you’ll cough up $25 for the grilled rattlesnake. La Casa de Samuel stocks a full bar, but nevertheless offers a family-friendly ambience. The colorful paintings of Mexico on the wall, and the Sun God in the corner, will calm that shooting hand of yours.


3116 Club

This new club next to the Green Line in Garfield Park looks grungy, and sketchy, from the outside, but warm and accommodating once you get inside the 4,500-square-foot space, adorned with local graffiti, a stage on one end and a lounge on the other. 3116 Club opened in late April and hosts shows on most Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with the occasional benefit concert on a Monday night. You’ll catch bands including “The Orphan Age,” “Jehovah Mustache,” “Charlie Don’t Shake” and “Raise High the Roof Beam”.

3116 doesn’t serve alcohol, but you can bring a six-pack or a fifth of Jameson with you and buy mixers inside. There’s free parking — bike parking too, and the El stop is just steps away. The club’s goal is to showcase local artists, right down to the graffiti artists. Dress code? Just wear shoes. Cover charges range from $5-$25, and 3116 has been a hit thanks to word of mouth. The grand opening show was sold out even though it was pouring rain on a Monday night.


Jay’s on Taylor

After 30 years on Rush Street, Chicago restaurateur Jay Emerich has moved into this cozy lounge and restaurant in the heart of Little Italy. He lives next door, so to him, Jay’s on Taylor feels like a mom and pop joint. Sit at the bar in the front room with a glass of Vermouth, and you’ll likely meet Jay, sauntering around in stylish black with a gold chain around his neck. A younger version of him appears in a painting behind the bar, lighting up an Ashton cigar, and the framed photos adorning the walls are all of Jay and his famous pals: Frank Sinatra, Harry Caray, Ryne Sandberg.

If you actually came here to eat, head to the back room and the white tablecloths, and prepare for a plate of pasta the size of your head. Jay’s a meatball and salad guy, himself. The thin-crust pizza is popular as well, and Jay’s will deliver it within the neighborhood. He claims that the locals helped him craft the menu. Create your own pie with a long list of fresh ingredients, both meaty and fresh. Almost everything on the menu is between $8-$15, to the liking of local college students, though steak and seafood dishes cost a bit more.


Spectrum Bar & Grill

Does drinking in Greek Town until the wee hours make you hungry? Then head to the Spectrum Bar for live blues on Saturdays, no cover charge, and downright cheap munchies during the week. Spectrum serves $1 tacos on Mondays, $1 cheeseburgers on Tuesdays, 20-cent buffalo wings on Wednesdays, and Greece’s famous souvlaki shish-ka-bob sticks for $1.50 on Thursdays. The kitchen closes at 3, but stay and drink until 4, or the bewitching hour of 5 on Sunday mornings.

Partying college kids love this place. So do sports fans. Spectrum boasts five TV monitors broadcasting the big game(s) from a satellite feed, and bar games including darts and Golden Tee golf. So once you tire of the Zorba soundtrack and waiters burning cheese to chants of “Opa” at Greek Town’s classier restaurants, cross the street to Spectrum, where you’ll find AC/DC on the jukebox and, more than likely, a Bulls or Blackhawks game on TV.


Market on Randolph

Professional hockey and baseball players may not all be beautiful, but they and their paychecks can certainly hang with a sultry crowd. Market on Randolph, a snazzy new restaurant and lounge with an outdoor patio, is partly owned by White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams, and the place is popular with Chicago sports stars (some live down the street) — as well as sexy clientele sporting mascara, pearl necklaces, silicone cleavage and pressed suits.

The restaurant’s fancy drinks, with names like Darryl Strawberry, Voodoo Child and Market Mojito, are popular with the hotties at the bar. If you’ve come to watch sports on the five flat-screen TVs behind the bar, and five more on the patio, order the dozen Buffalo wings that come in a platter with elevated cups of spicy buffalo sauce and blue-cheese sauce on either side — like basketball hoops. Other favorites on the appetizer list include the Mac & Cheese Muffins and the Popcorn Shrimp. Considering the upscale crowd, Market’s entrée plates, burgers, and M.V.P’s (Most Valuable Pizzas) — try the Chicken Vesuvio with sautéed chicken and spinach — are reasonably priced. Manager Dan Schwab says that Market wants to go against the grain and cater to several crowds, upscale and mid-range.


The Ledge Bar & Grill

The upscale Wicker Park restaurant Parlor has given way to The Ledge Bar & Grill. Don’t let the marble countertops and mosaic tiles on the wall here fool you. This venue is more about drinking and partying than it is about fine dining. The Ledge holds court until the wee hours, and the easy-on-the-eyes waitresses will seduce you with a list of spirits and cocktails.

But if drinking beckons your appetite, sink your teeth into the Ledge Burger, a patty of ground lamb, Muenster cheese and a fried egg on top, for $10.95. The Ledge sports flat-screen televisions above the bar, limited outdoor patio seating and all the cuisine you’d expect at a tavern: burgers, BLTs, chicken sandwiches, salads and appetizers including chicken wings, fries, chicken tenders, a hummus platter and “ledge bites” of deep-fried chicken, bacon and cheddar, topped with a variety of sauces. Fit in your yoga session before you come here, because you won’t feel like it afterwards.


Las Fuentes

Invite your entire family, your softball team and all your work buddies to the outdoor patio at Las Fuentes, and there will still be room for 200 new friends. The painting of a traditional arch and cobblestone street on the back wall will transport you into a colonial Mexican town (ignore the errant telephone poll leaning over the garden wall). Drink a Las Fuentes Margarita with 100 percent Blue Agave tequila ($9) and you won’t want to leave the daydream. House Margaritas of various tropical flavors are also available for $5 per 12-ounce glass, $15 for half a pitcher or $25 for the whole deal.

The Albarran family from Guerrero has served delicious pan-Mexican cuisine at this tasty restaurant near DePaul University since 1980. It’s authentic; the salsa is fresh and garden-like, not Tex-Mex spicy; the Mole will encourage you to expand your spice rack; and the energy here is cien por ciento Latino. Admire the traditional Aztec plates and flowerpots along the patio walls and let the Christmas lights put you in a Holiday mood. Students, this is a great place to bring your parents. Cubs fans, a suitable spot to drown your sorrows. Private parties are held in the Pachanga Club, and the fiesta moves inside to the bar with hip-swaying music in the evening. Come on Saturdays for mariachi music. End your night with flan or cake of the day ($6 or $7), and, as always, order another Margarita.


Smash Cake

Smash Cake is a kids’ paradise. The walls at this new Lincoln Park café are painted with flowers and funky prints of squirrels, ducks wearing baker hats and relief pitchers with crazy moustaches. Buckets of toys and slinkies await just inside the door. Better yet, the long wooden tables are just high enough for children, and the spools of paper towel at one end are all the encouragement they’ll need to draw and make a colorful mess.

Smash Cake is owned by the people who brought you Bleeding Heart Bakery and features the same baked goods to go with java drinks by Metropolis Coffee. Try the smashed cake balls — because kid food is encouraged here. Smash Cake will host occasional reading hours for children, and your elementary school can rent the entire café on weekends. This spot is ideal for a young one’s birthday party. Let them decorate cupcakes or shortbread cookies … let them have their cake and eat it too!


Oh Fusion

Ed grew tired of overfeeding his buffet customers at the Katachi sushi joint, so he eliminated the buffet, renamed the place, and expanded the menu to include a fusion of Japanese and Euro-American items such as calamari, bacon sticks, garlic bread, clam chowder, risotto and pork chops. Oh Fusion offers a strange marriage of Western gluttony with healthy fish from the land of the rising sun — all with a sleek, cozy black and white décor and soft electronic music.

Still, the sushi prices are phenomenal. Five pieces of crab, mackerel, tuna, red snapper, squid or octopus sashimi are yours for $5 or less. Combinations range from $5 for 9 pieces to $19 for 24 pieces. And the sushi bar offers a variety of chef’s choice entrees for only $10 each. Oh Fusion offers a net-full of deals: free crab or gyoza, veggie roll or edameme, seaweed salad or cucumber salad, or miso soup with any order over $15. The restaurant is open late and happy to deliver if you have a late-night craving but don’t fee like venturing out on the town.


Felony Frank’s

Ever wanted to set foot in Cook County Jail and then leave again, with all your faculties intact and without doing any hard time? Well, at least now you can eat like a convict at Felony Frank’s, a takeout food joint opening in May on the near west side.

Your menu in the slammer includes such creative delicacies as Burglar Beef, Bail Bond BBQ, Subpoena Sausage, Lawbreaker Meatball Sandwich and Fraudulent Fish Sandwich. Smile at the warden, and he might loosen your handcuffs long enough for you to gobble down a Felony Frank, Misdemeanor Weiner, Cell Mate Dog or Chain Gang Chili Dog. Need more alliteration from inside the joint? Add Convicted Cheese Fries, Handcuff Tamale or the Mistrial Fried Mushrooms.

On second thought, the food in jail probably isn’t this creative. Best to enjoy Felony Frank’s and stay on the right side of the law.

The Village Chatter: Print media is dead! Long live community newspapers!

Glen Arbor Sun

They say that newspapers are dead. They say that readers have abandoned print media, en masse, for greener pastures on the Internet. They say that those of us still trying to make money by disseminating hard news, features or entertainment on paper may as well be arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Well, if you’ve read this far, consider yourself a rebel — or a dinosaur. What you’re holding in your hands is a community resource, a rag that this community has supported, read, cherished, criticized, used to start beach bonfires, but continuously supported — financially and through your readership and submissions — for 14 years now. And though we’re unveiling a brand new website this spring (GlenArborSun.com, with revenue-generation advertising, live videos and stories year-round), there’s no indication that the Glen Arbor Sun will suffer the same fate as the late daily papers in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Boston, Denver, and heaps of magazines around the country.

This newspaper isn’t run by a corporate media baron intent on squeezing 20-percent profit margins out of a community he’s never known. This newspaper, though not officially publicly-owned, has hundreds of shareholders — you. You understand the importance of a town, or in this case a series of small towns, having a voice, a forum not just for breaking news but for well-thought-out, analytical features, profiles on community characters both eccentric and ordinary, and friendly small-town gossip that draws you closer.

The Glen Arbor Sun’s Memorial Day issue opens the summer season like a ribbon-cutting ceremony opens a new restaurant or community garden. It’s a good tiding. The lake is still chilly when our first issue hits the streets, but the spring rains have just about ceased, leaving the forests, gardens and asparagus stalks in bloom.

In these necks of the woods, Cre Woodard’s hands are buried in dirt, shaping a beautiful garden for some lucky client; over in Empire, Frank Lerchen’s eyes are as wide as baseballs, his pupils nearly touching the brim of his Tigers’ cap, over how many folks visited town for last weekend’s Asparagus Festival; back at the Glen Arbor tennis courts, Tim Sutherland is firing up his partner during a competitive double’s match; and the Widmayers are enjoying a celebratory breakfast at Art’s after finishing the final renovations at the Glen Arbor Bed & Breakfast.

Yep, we’re ready for the tourists — whether or not there’s a bridge crossing the Glen Lake Narrows.

Pick up future issues of the Glen Arbor Sun this summer for reports on the new owners at the Narrows Marina (and how that bridge is coming along); a series of stories on the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, including which park ranger has the coolest job; a hops field in Empire, but perhaps no Dunegrass Festival; how Empire will control crowds at its busy public beach, and which team has a greater shot at winning the World Series — the Tigers, the Cubbies or Glen Arborite Bill Thompson and President Barack Obama’s beloved White Sox. Stay tuned.

Park stimulus means jobs

Glen Arbor Sun

Tom Ulrich, Deputy Superintendent of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (the local branch of the National Park Service), says that the $2.2 million the Lakeshore will receive under the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — or “stimulus package” — will result in immediate local jobs, and the money will be used by September 2010. The National Park received a total $750 million to use nationwide.

“We’ve already begun hiring people and moving ahead with contracts. These are jobs that companies who (win project) bids can provide workers — work that otherwise would not have been available. Presumably they will hire even more workers.”

The historic village of Glen Haven will receive the lion’s share of the funds — as much as $2 million, Ulrich estimates. The Park has begun rehabilitating the Warner House on the east side of the road, and contractors will be hired to pave a new parking lot for Glen Haven’s popular beach destination — just east of where beachgoers currently park.

“If a company already employs 20 people, maybe it will employ 32 for our work,” Ulrich cites as an example. “Almost certainly (the stimulus money will mean) more people working, and more people working longer hours. It’s not a small amount of money that we’ll expend.”

The project at Glen Haven, which served as a frontier wooding station and steamboat stop between 1857 and 1931, will improve the visitor access as Park contractors build the parking lot, sidewalks, picnic facilities, boardwalks to the beach, viewing platforms, and restore over 1,500 feet of historic boardwalk. The project will also rehabilitate historic structures for visitor use and park operations. The Cannery building housing the Great Lakes boat museum will be repaired and offer improved access. The fish tug Aloha will be relocated and made accessible as the existing site is restored. The Lakeshore will also provide new interpretive exhibits.

“All of our work in Glen Haven up until now has been geared toward representing the village more as it would have appeared during D.H. Day’s time in early 1930s,” says Ulrich. “We feel that Glen Haven is one of the most significant places within the Park, so we’re comfortable if visitation in Glen Haven does increase.”

The remainder of the stimulus money not devoted to Glen Haven will go toward repairing hiking trails at the Platte Plains, Good Harbor Bay, Shauger Hill and North Manitou Island, and removing invasive baby’s breath plants from critical habitat areas of the endangered piping plover and threatened Pitcher’s thistle. In addition, the Park hopes to begin the process of bringing photovoltaic electric power to South Manitou Island and eliminate the need for diesel generators on the island, thus reducing its environmental footprint.

“We had these projects that met the criteria (for stimulus money) and were ready to go,” says Ulrich. “All of the environmental compliance impact assessments had been done. These projects weren’t just fluff, but things with pressing needs.”

The Park will also begin the groundwork this summer for bike trails near M-109 that were approved as part of the new General Management Plan. And as this issue of the Sun went to press, the Park was working with volunteers from Cherry Republic to build and restore a wooden staircase at the popular Lake Michigan beach access on Lane Road in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District. The Glen Arbor cherry product and clothing retailer also contributed $5,000 to the project.