Last issue, Crazy Wisdom profiled Maker Works, a local business offering space, tools, and teaching about woodcraft, metalworking, and other hands on skills. This issue, we are profiling another business offering space, tools, and teaching, but in a very different medium. Pink Castle Fabrics has a small retail space on the West Side of Ann Arbor, and may seem modest to outsiders. But with a global reach through their online community, retreats, and Instagram feed, Pink Castle Fabrics invigorates and innovates in a uniquely modern format.
In the Heart of the Wood on a Rainy Night — Reflections on Black Pond Woods
An equinoctial night in 2016. It’s raining. The injured raptor birds, often used in educational programs, sleep in little wooden houses on the hillside. Community gardens and orchards await spring, leaves poised to unfurl and earth to be turned. It is the night of the salamander survey at Black Pond Woods.
In the Company of Cats — Ann Arbor’s First Cat Café Lets Visitors Enjoy Feline Companionship and Cat-centered Activities
The sun is just peeking over the horizon, burning off the last tendrils of early morning fog, as instructor Lisa Norgren begins teaching her yoga class. The studio is dim; a soothing fountain trickles gently in the back of the room. Students stand in front of their mats, talking softly. The room eventually becomes quiet. The cats awaken, stretch and start to roam.
Crafting Beer, Creating Community
"I never imagined a time when craft beer would become so mainstream,” said Rene Greff, co-owner of Arbor Brewing Company brewpub in Ann Arbor and ABC Microbrewery in Ypsilanti. In 1995, when Rene and her husband, Matt Greff, opened the brewpub on Washington Street, craft beer was anything but mainstream. A few brands were paving the way, including Samuel Adams in Boston, Sierra Nevada and Anchor Brewing in California, and Bell’s Brewery in Michigan, but American beer sales and consciousness were dominated by light, insipid lagers produced by mega-breweries like Anheuser Busch, Coors, and Miller.
A Day in the Life of a Farmer — Kris Hanna of Old Pine Farm
This past summer I was privileged to visit Old Pine Farm in bucolic Manchester, Michigan, where a variety of breeds are raised to produce high quality beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. I found my host, farmer Kris Hanna, wrenching a piece of equipment when I pulled into the driveway by her charming yet modest farmhouse. I noticed she had little by way of “garden or landscaping,” which she later explained is not her area of expertise. Her son did a fine job of perennial plantings in the area surrounding her homes’ entrance as a Mother’s Day gift. The iconic Midwest red barn with silo stands proud among several smaller barns and paddocks, dappled by a background of rolling green fields.
For Want of a Nail: How the U-M’s Innovative Faculty Scholar Program Could Fade Away, or Continue to Thrive
In 2013, Professor Ana Baylin found herself in a professional crisis. After training as an M.D. in Spain, getting her Ph.D. in Nutrition and Epidemiology, and working at the U-M School of Public Health, she found herself wanting to do… something else. A colleague encouraged her to enroll in the Faculty Scholar Program (FSP), a year-long educational group. The faculty in the program study recent research on integrative medicine, such as meditation, yoga, and chiropractic, as applied to cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic pain, and mental health. By exposing professionals to the benefits of other disciplines outside their own, and building bridges based on science between medicine (disease treatment) and health (vitality and well-being), faculty find themselves creating new methods and solutions to patient problems. The program has been innovative and successful, and a key element in the slow but steady growth in the acceptance of integrative medicine at the University of Michigan.
At the Heart of Everything is Dharma — Getting to Know Tsochen Khandro and Traktung Rinpoche of Tsogyelgar Dharma Center and White Lotus Farms
The Tsogyelgar Dharma Center is a singularly dynamic and vibrant Buddhist community set on farmland just a few miles west of downtown. Now in its 26th year of existence, the community may be best known for spawning White Lotus Farms and its delicious baked goods and dairy products. Founded and guided by an American-born couple, Katie and Stuart Kirkpatrick (who have been known by their Buddhist names for decades now), Tsogyelgar includes its own self-built Stupa, magnificent self-generated Buddhist works of art (thangkas), poetry nights, CDs of beautiful and spiritual music, and dozens of local and nationwide followers dedicated to living in a conscious and compassionate way.
Reinaldo Couto — A Journey from Violinist to Alexander Technique Teacher
For much of his life, Reinaldo Couto was a professional classical violinist, as a chamber musician and as a member of a number of major orchestras in his native Brazil, Europe, and the U.S. In 1990, in his late forties, he made a big career change. He started studying to become a certified Alexander Technique (AT) teacher.
Room to Breathe — Organizing for Happiness and Harmony
How one's personal space, be it home or work, is organized has a great impact on one's energy, productivity, and sense of self. Organization, use, and harmony among multiple users of the space all have a hand in affecting our well-being. To some, well-organized means sparse, but this can be detrimental to usability and may not work for everyone. Luckily, there are a number of tools at our disposal to bring organization and harmony to our living spaces.
Creative Outlooks: Questions for Robb Johnston and Rachel Nisch
Robb Johnston’s first book, The Woodcutter and The Most Beautiful Tree, tells the story of a beautiful tree and an eager woodcutter who would like nothing more than to chop it down (and hear his ax go “Thwickety-THWACK!”). Johnston created the detailed, colorful illustrations using watercolor, ink pen, color pencil, and acrylic paint. Described as “gorgeous” in a Kirkus Starred Review, the book was also named to Kirkus’ Best of 2011 list.
Raising EMMA
Husband and wife team, Mark Skowronski and Michelle Kahlenberg, own and operate a small sustainable farm, called EMMA Acres, west of Ann Arbor proper in the beautiful farming community of Manchester. They raise primarily heritage breed livestock in a sustainable and humane way. Their organic practices are inspired by the likes of Joel Salatin.
Bringing Integrative Medicine to the Ann Arbor Veterans Hospital
Allison Mitchinson walks through the Veterans Hospital in Ann Arbor as an old hand. Sliding around groups, easing her way through the busy hallways, she confidently guides me until we come to a nondescript door that leads to an inner office area. Here, at her desk, “whole person treatment” is taking its latest step in a long journey. Mitchinson, a licensed massage therapist, creates integrative care within the hospital environment. She and two colleagues are using their expertise to help local veterans address pain and health issues. They are also publishing research about their work.
100 Indian Music Nights
Earlier this year, on the second Saturday night in May, the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room was crowded by 8:00. It was Indian Music Night. (Indian Music Night # 95 to be exact, but more on that in a minute.) A quintet of musicians sat in chairs at the front of the room, their backs to the windows that look out on Main Street. John Churchville, the founder of Indian Music Night, was warming up on the tabla (the traditional Indian hand drums), while Dan Ripke picked out notes on his acoustic guitar.
DROUGHT Juice: Cold-Pressed and Home Grown
The James sisters file in one by one, and Jenny, 29, the first to sit down, begins nibbling on a cookie and happily chattering away. All of the sisters are tall and dark haired, with an infectious energy about them that extends naturally to their business, DROUGHT Juice, the successful raw juice company based out of metro Detroit.
Spiritual Emergency: It’s Not All Falling Apart But Forever Together
The vortex of energy in my chest swelled so powerfully that I could hardly believe Haley could not feel it as she lay next to me in the bed. I writhed in absolute terror, oppressed from every angle. There was no escape from this abyss I’d discovered because there was no escape from myself.
Rose Quartz — It’s All About the LOVE!
The soft pink emanations of Rose Quartz ultimately radiate deep, pure love. This unconditional love energy forms a new foundation where inner peace and contentment become a personal reality.
Walking Across Michigan: A Brief Conversation with Author Will Swartz on His Experience Hiking the Michigan Shore-to-Shore Trail
Will Swartz has been a teacher, librarian, school administrator, coach, trainer, and salesman, and now adds writer to this list with the publication of his first book, A Walk Across Michigan: Hiking the Michigan Shore-to-Shore Riding and Hiking Trail. The book follows Will from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan as he explores the history of Michigan, the hiking trail, and his options for the next chapter of his life.
From Human Doing to Human Being
I grew up in Flint, Michigan, just barely on the right side of the “wrong side” of the tracks. While the neighborhood I grew up in was rough, my parents were deeply religious, loving, and clear that I was here to make something of myself. I got encouraged (dare I say “pushed”) to get beyond the constraints of my neighborhood by getting good grades so I could go to college. I got what I now call good “human doing” training....
Food for Thought — What is My Body Telling Me? A Psychotherapist on Intuition Versus Body Memory
Many people think they are acting intuitively when they are actually having “body memories.” This happened to me when I visited Seattle, a city I used to live in. I had positive anticipation of the trip. It felt good to step off the plane and smell the delicious evergreens and see the beauty of the landscape. Positive feelings rushed over me and I was sure I was having an intuitive “hit” that relocation was in my future.
Conscious Parenting — Running on Empty
There are times as a parent when it feels like I have lost the capacity to care. I feel totally overwhelmed, frustrated, and exhausted. I feel impatient and I am not able to respond with love or kindness. In those moments, I might yell or be overly aggressive. As an example, when changing a non-cooperative toddler, in my frustration I may have been too rough pulling off his clothes.
