Featured Articles from Issue 56

The Crazy Wisdom Journal Online
Dirty Windows

The birds are exuberant this morning. By the dozens, tufted titmice, rose-breasted grosbeaks, cardinals, gold finches, black capped chickadees, blue jays, mourning doves, and an oriole sing and flit from branch to nearby branch in a riotous clamor just outside the living room windows. One of the delights of spring is the way one can luxuriate in the bookends of the day. Morning unfolds slowly as the light gathers until the sun crests the horizon, and then all at once the day bursts open like a flower. Evening lingers before the day finishes. It is at these times that I especially enjoy watching the birds come and go.

Kids in the Community—Abilities in Action: Resources and support for kids with special needs and their families

Raising a child with special needs comes with unique challenges, but it also brings moments of incredible growth, resilience, and joy. The proper support and strategies can make all the difference—whether it's navigating therapies, advocating at school, or creating a home environment where a child feels empowered. From practical tips to expert insights, community groups and carefully curated summer camps and classes, special needs children and their families will not just get by but will truly thrive. Every child deserves the chance to shine, and every family deserves the tools to help them do it.

A  Melding of Psychology  and Spirituality

Chelsie Skowyra is a Chelsea-based claircognizant, clairvoyant empath who finds great pleasure in helping others find peace in their true selves. Along with her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology/Anthropology and a Masters of Marriage and Family Therapy, she’s blended in her own well-rounded spiritual mentoring approach.

Listening and Learning with Nature:  Judy Liu Ramsey--Interspecies Counselor  and Shamanic Healer

Living on a farm in Chelsea, Ramsey’s journey from community developer and social worker to shamanic practitioner and animal chaplain exemplifies an authentic evolution of one’s unfolding of identity, own healing, and epiphany in recognizing one’s place within the actual world contrary to the confines and misperceptions of society.

Out of My Comfort Zone: My Cat Ate My Comfort Zone

This is the story of Margot, a recently rescued tuxedo cat, and how she curled up in my heart and broke it open.

Kindred Conversations with Hilary Nichols: Phillis Engelbert, Owner of Detroit Filling Station, North Star Lounge, and Lunch Room Bakery & Cafe

“Operate from a position of generosity and humanity. Watch how it benefits your business.” This simple statement is key to the working philosophy of Phillis Engelbert, owner of the Detroit Street Filling Station, North Star Lounge, and The Lunch Room Bakery & Cafe in Ann Arbor. The concepts of generosity and humanity might not be the most common buzz words in today’s business culture, and her central tenet doesn’t come without a cost—but that is not what concerns Engelbert. She recommends it for reasons that transcend the financials.

Gardening Phenology:  Planting by Nature’s Cues

As a gardener, and a general nature romantic, my heart begins to feel torn around mid-February. On one half, I want to honor the last of winter’s deep rest and on the other half, there is the burgeoning energy of spring’s return. One of my favorite activities at this time is to thumb through my seed stores, as well as the new year’s seed catalogs, and begin to plan my garden in earnest.

A Traditional Yoga School  Hiding in Plain Sight on Main Street: An Interview with Angela Jamison

For the last 15 years, in the early morning between five and eight, the 200 block of South Main Street has filled with yoga practitioners who come and go before the town comes to life. It’s a diverse group, ranging from those in their teens to those in their 80s, across all sorts of life situations and physical capacities. The yoga they practice is tailored to the individual. Depending on the person, the practice might include various physical asanas, breathing techniques, and meditations. What they all have in common is that they’re all part of a school, and a community organization, called Ashtanga Yoga Ann Arbor.

Getting to Know A Complete Unknown

I recently went twice to see A Complete Unknown, the biopic about Bob Dylan’s early rise to stardom from 1961 until 1965 with Timothee Chalamet as Dylan. Both times the audience was mostly age fifty and up. I am eighty-five—two years older than Dylan. We are members of what is called, misleadingly, “The Silent Generation.” The postwar generation are Boomers, who are associated with the upheavals of the 1960s, but as Dylan puts it in his memoir, Chronicles, One, “I had very little in common with, and knew even less about, a generation that I was supposed to be the voice of.” The well-known movers of that era—Dylan, Warhol, Ginsberg, Baez, Beatles, Rolling Stones, and many others—are prewar or war babies.

No Matter Where You Go,  You Are in a Watershed!

Our Southeast Michigan watersheds are the Huron River, Rouge River, Clinton River, River Raisin, and Ecorse Creek Watersheds. All of these nets of nomadic water empty into the Detroit River (which has its own watershed). Detroit River waters flow into Lake Erie, then travel through the Niagara River merging into Lake Ontario, narrowing again into the St. Lawrence River, and releasing finally into the Atlantic Ocean.

More from Issue 56

The Crazy Wisdom Journal Online
Out of My Comfort Zone: My Cat Ate My Comfort Zone

This is the story of Margot, a recently rescued tuxedo cat, and how she curled up in my heart and broke it open.

Kindred Conversations with Hilary Nichols: Singer, Bandleader, and Performer Dani Darling

Last summer, as she has every summer since 2018, Dani Darling performed at the Ann Arbor Summer Fest. This time she took to the main stage with her identical triplet sisters as guests to drop into an electrifying harmony like it was their first language—maybe because it was.

Sustainable Health: Hypnosis For Peace of Mind

Peace is the felt experience of an inner sanctuary—a place of tranquillity and calm detachment that you can always access. Equanimity is composure under stress. It is a deep internal knowing that no matter what happens you will handle it and be okay.

Weekend Getaway: A Visit to the Maryville Retreat Center

As a center established by the Felician Sisters on over 200 acres, I expected a degree of formality, so I was pleasantly surprised that I could casually enter. Moving from the entrance and through the dining area to reach accommodations, the staff member’s warmth and attentiveness complemented the positive vibes from a fellow retreatant, a repeat visitor who told me she/he planned monthly escapes to Maryville.

Spirit Seeds: Spring/Summer 2025

I’m feeling stuck in my shadow work, particularly around my past traumas. Are there specific crystals or energy-healing techniques that could help me move forward?

For deeper and more powerful healing, consider using moldavite and black tourmaline. Moldavite is known for its intense, transformative energy often called the “stone of transformation.” It can help accelerate spiritual awakening and deep healing by bringing to light deeply buried traumas. Black tourmaline is a robust, grounding and protective stone that can shield you from negative energies and transmute them into positive ones. In addition to these crystals, energy healing techniques like Reiki and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) can be highly effective. Reiki helps balance your chakras by penetrating and clearing blockages with pure universal energy promoting overall well-being.

What's New in the Community: Spring/Summer 2025

This ongoing column features upcoming events within Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County and surrounding areas’ Body/Mind/Spirit communities, new (during the past year or two) practitioners and holistic businesses, new books written by local/regional authors, new classes, as well as new offerings by established practitioners and holistic businesses.

Tea with Peggy: Minty Cool

When I think of mint, winter comes to mind—a nice cup of cocoa in which I steep some peppermint tea leaves. It’s invigorating, refreshing, and cooling. Wait a minute... if mint is invigorating, refreshing, and cooling, why am I drinking it in the cold of winter? I should be drinking in the warmth of summer instead!