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To Crazy Wisdom Community Journal’s Readers and Advertisers –
In the spirit of responding in a practical way to what is happening, we have postponed the publishing of our Spring/Summer Issue (May thru August 2020 – Issue #75) due to all the reverberations and fallout from the Covid-19 Pandemic. Our editorial content is all set to go, but so many of our advertisers are closed for business currently, and they’ve asked to postpone their advertisements. Additionally, so many of our 235 local/regional distribution spots are closed that we wouldn’t be able to distribute most of our 11,000-copy print run.

Features from our Winter 2020 Issue

Featured
Advertisers Highlight, October 2026, Week #3
Advertisers Highlight, October 2026, Week #3

We are so appreciative for our advertisers in each issue, and you should be too! They help keep The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal FREE in print and online. Please support them by clicking on their ad below to find out more about their services.

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Manifestation in a Glass: How The Black Salt Blends Witchcraft with Exceptional Hospitality
Manifestation in a Glass: How The Black Salt Blends Witchcraft with Exceptional Hospitality

In Hamtramck, a unique neighborhood establishment is redefining what it means to gather for a drink. Founded in 2023 by owner and creative director Zoey Ashwood, The Black Salt bridges the gap between a traditional craft cocktail bar and a dedicated space for metaphysics and ritual. For Ashwood, a former New York City painter, professional psychic, and lifelong practitioner of witchcraft, the integration of cocktails and magic is entirely natural.

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Hickory Nut Farmstead: Weaving Death Back into the Local Soil
Hickory Nut Farmstead: Weaving Death Back into the Local Soil

In the living room of a farmstead outside Dexter, Michigan, a willow casket stands upright against the wall. It holds books for now, but eventually it will hold the woman who wove it. That woman is Michael Marie Schofield, a “fiber and funerary artisan.” Schofield weaves conventional basketry and dye work as well as teaches around Southeast Michigan. “But I also do funerary vessels,” she said. “I craft handmade caskets and burial trays and urns and plant dyed shrouds for use in more sustainable end of life options.”

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Back to the Future A Visit to Leslie Science & Nature Center and the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum
Back to the Future A Visit to Leslie Science & Nature Center and the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum

Most Ann Arborites know the Leslie Science & Nature Center (LSNC) off Traver Road is free and open to the public. When was the last time you visited? Maybe you played around on the lawn, in the woods, or in the unique, tunneled playground on a school field trip. Or maybe you showed up for the Annual Earth Day Event or October’s Animal Haunts. The property is still there, better than ever, with a friendly crew to help you when you desire it. Some day you might just want to wander around, or let your mind relax on the Black Pond Woods nature trail.

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Kids in the Community:Harvesting Apples, Gratitude, New Knowldedge, and Skills In and Around Ann Arbor
Kids in the Community:Harvesting Apples, Gratitude, New Knowldedge, and Skills In and Around Ann Arbor

Every fall, children head into orchards with baskets in hand reaching for apples that are finally ready to be picked. They search pumpkin patches for the perfect pumpkin. They fill bags at farmers’ markets with late-season vegetables and jars of honey. Harvest season teaches us to notice what has grown, but the most important harvests aren’t always found in orchards or pumpkin patches.

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Out of My Comfort Zone: Batter Up!
Out of My Comfort Zone: Batter Up!

Over our lives, when we are shut out from things we want—getting into a school program, scheduling a date with a lovely person, not getting the job in your chosen field—we can tend to dampen our heart’s desire and diminish our joy in the world. We then tend to think of the world as a place to be tolerated. When we follow our open loving heart, we touch into that reservoir of delight and joy which we all have, and then we fully inhabit our precious life. When I get stuck on a project or something I want to do, I often think of this delightful energy we all have, and I reminisce about when I was small, and in my innocence, would not take no for an answer.

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When the Body Holds Trauma: Combining EMDR and Dry Needling for PTSD Healing
When the Body Holds Trauma: Combining EMDR and Dry Needling for PTSD Healing

At Peaceful Minds Counseling Services and Care2Cure Physical Therapy in Dexter, Michigan, we have come together to conduct a research study focused on helping individuals with PTSD improve trauma processing and healing. Through this collaboration, we are exploring the effects of using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR) in a mental health setting followed immediately with Dry Needling in a physical therapy setting.

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Stephanie Olson: Making Fertile Ground
Stephanie Olson: Making Fertile Ground

It has long been proven that one’s mental and spiritual wellness have a huge impact on one’s bodily health. With 22 years of training in multiple traditional disciplines such as neuroscience and kinesiology as well as holistic disciplines such as yoga and aromatherapy, Stephanie Olson treats the whole person. From start to finish, in all aspects of her treatments she expresses loving empathy. Given time, a wildflower will break down a stone wall. Slowly, gently, and lovingly, the wall will turn into fertile soil. Stephanie Olson is such a flower.

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Weekend Getaway: The Arc of Appalachia: A Steward's Quest
Weekend Getaway: The Arc of Appalachia: A Steward's Quest

Soon after arriving in Bainbridge (between Dayton and Columbus), I had my first revelation–The Arc wasn’t a guesthouse or retreat facility per se: it was a conservation non-profit dedicated to preserving and restoring the wildscapes of the Appalachian region within southern Ohio, West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky.

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A visit with Sushma the Animal Psychic, or How I Reconciled with Naomi, My Russian Archangel Blue Cat
A visit with Sushma the Animal Psychic, or How I Reconciled with Naomi, My Russian Archangel Blue Cat

If you own a cat, then you have long ago figured out that your cat actually owns you. But dogs aren’t like that, oh no. It’s clear from day one that your dog belongs to you and wants to please you in every way. They will do everything they can to anticipate your needs and make you feel happy and content. For example, dogs don’t really want to go for a walk with you. But they can tell that you want to go for a walk. So, they’ll bring you their leash and act happy when you take it in your hands, no matter how they might be feeling.

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Posts from our Blog

Blog
Shining Your Light
Shining Your Light

Nights with an infant stretched long, with nuanced and layered emotions. Some nights, the weight of exhaustion seemed unbearable. I wanted to crumple into the piles of laundry, to sink into a mountain of fabric as though it was a nest that would cradle my body so that I could rest. Instead, I sat and rocked my daughter back to sleep, her warm body on my chest, and I looked out the window to the full moon. My mind meandered through the glass, past my yard, traveling to the other mothers who sat under the same moon and nurtured their own little ones. In those quiet moments, I felt a thread of connection pulling taught between myself and mothers I’d never meet — bound not by place or even time but by love and nurturing.

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Finding Flow
Finding Flow

As we moved around the lake, we slowed to quietly watch beavers and muskrats forage at the water’s edge. Herons stood like dignified statues, waiting for fish to venture near their shadows. Turtles basked on fallen logs, stretching their heads to warm their long necks. Minnows dimpled the surface as they dashed to deeper water. Occasionally a cautious doe would bring her fawns to drink. My relationship with the land deepened, and I contemplated the generations of humans and other animals that thrived in and around the wat

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A Conversation With “Big Bull” of Domino’s Bison Herd
A Conversation With “Big Bull” of Domino’s Bison Herd

I was driving past Domino’s Farm recently and wondered whether bison moo like cows. Big Bull (current leader of the Dominos herd) popped into my mind, grinned and went “mooooo!” Then he laughed his fuzzy butt off!

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The A2 Jazz Fest is 10 years Old!
The A2 Jazz Fest is 10 years Old!

When Dave Sharp, bassist, bandleader, A2 Jazz Fest founder and artistic director at Ann Arbor’s Blue LLama Jazz Club, first thought of putting on a jazz festival, he was just trying to solve a problem: the jazz music program at the Ann Arbor Music Center (AAMC), was really starting to grow in popularity. With teachers like Dave and his colleagues, Detroit-based drummer, Gayelynn McKinney, and Ann Arbor-based saxophonist, Paul Vornhagen added to an already all-star popular music slate that included Theo Katzman (former Vulfpek frontman), Ann Arbor’s only Rock Band School—now with Jazz - was bursting at the seams.

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A Conversation With Harambe the Gorilla
A Conversation With Harambe the Gorilla

Harambe was a 17-year-old 450-pound male gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo. On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old boy climbed under a fence and fell into the gorilla enclosure’s moat. Overwhelmed and distressed by the uproar from panicking humans, Harambe tried to move the boy to a more protected part of the enclosure. Because of Harambe’s size and strength and the potential for accidental harm, he was shot and killed by zoo officials. The incident was caught on camera and became a major viral meme and cultural phenomenon. It also sparked intense international debate over zookeeping, animal rights, and parental responsibility in public spaces.

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Wildflowers: Childhood Spaces
Wildflowers: Childhood Spaces

As my great Aunt Wanda braided wildflower stems together, her hazel eyes sparkled and a mysterious, yet playful, grin danced across her lips. She told me stories of wood fairies, who were shy and hidden just out of our sight, yet deeply inquisitive and always listening. She described them as gentle yet volatile, delicate yet strong. They were connected to the woods and nurtured plants and forest creatures. Their protective nature also came with quick tempers; they would play tricks on those who were greedy or destructive.

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A Conversation With the Oversoul of Omaha Beach
A Conversation With the Oversoul of Omaha Beach

“Omaha Beach was one of the five main landing areas during the Allied invasion of German-occupied France on June 6, 1944 (D-Day). It was the most heavily defended and deadliest of all landing sites, with roughly 2,400 U.S. casualties out of 34,000 troops. Today, it is a place for reflection with memorials and the nearby American Cemetery.”

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Seeking Guidance
Seeking Guidance

When I was in my mid-20s, I had a brush with cancer. The diagnosis led to a series of tests and seemingly endless appointments with various specialists. I sat in waiting rooms, awaited results, scheduled further appointments. My art at the time reflected my feelings of being poked, prodded, and reduced to a numbered specimen. I’d never before faced surgery, and the night before the procedure, I laid awake, contemplating my mortality.

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A Conversation With “Ginger Pie,” A Feral Cat
A Conversation With “Ginger Pie,” A Feral Cat

Recently I went to the PTO Thrift Shop on South Industrial in Ann Arbor, and parked way in the back next to the railroad tracks. Returning to my car, I spotted a feral, long-haired orange cat perched on a piece of discarded concrete. We were only eight feet apart, but there was so much brush and junk between us that she felt safe enough to stay where she was.

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Mothering
Mothering

The first person who called me “Mom,” was born over half a century before me.

His name was Raymond. Deemed unable to make his own decisions, he became an adult ward of the state after his parents and close relatives passed. Unlike a child who learns whom to call mother, Ray asked my permission. When I paused, he explained with choppy speech and teary eyes that he missed his mom and knew it was pretend.

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