Features

Features Rick Coates The Women Behind Mad Men: AMC TV series writers kick off The National Writers Series 1/31/11
By Rick Coates
While past guests of the National Writer’s Series (NWS) have been
authors, Janet Leahy and Lisa Albert write for television. The two
currently write for the AMC hit series “Mad Men,” one of the most
critically acclaimed shows on television today. Leahy and Albert will
kick off the NWS 2011 season when they join New York Times Best
Selling Author Doug Stanton--who, along with his wife Anne (Express
investigative reporter) and attorney Grant Parsons founded the NWS--on
stage at the City Opera House, in Traverse City, this Thursday,
February 3.

Features Kristy Kurjan Bridal Fashions for 2011 1/24/11
By Kristy Kurjan
Planning a wedding is an exciting time in any couple’s life. The event
is an outward celebration of the love and joy between two people.
After the proposal, what’s at the top of most brides’ to-do list?
Fashion, of course! No matter the wedding style... Black tie, casual
attire, beach party, or eloping in Vegas - fashion is intrinsically
important on the big day.

Features Kristy Kurjan Silk &Satin: Meet custom wedding dress designer Ali Frankhouse 1/24/11
By Kristy Kurjan
What is a bride to do when the gown she craves doesn’t exist? Have one made.
 Enter Ali Frankhouse, a Northern Michigan designer who creates custom
gowns for the bride-to-be. Her one-of-a-kind wedding dresses have
graced weddings from New York to Northern Michigan.

Features Will Dart My 3 Months in an Orphanage in India 1/24/11
Although Will Dart is only 18, he writes like a seasoned travel pro
and has experiences to match. The recent graduate of Harbor Springs
High School spent part of his gap year traveling to India, where he
volunteered in an orphanage in Kolkata. He plans to study journalism
in the coming year at the University of Oregon.
Following is his report from Kolkata.

Features Erin Crowell Forever Flowers: Lilies of the Alley offers silk & dried flowers 1/24/11
By Erin Crowell
Planning a wedding? More than likely, flowers are on the list –
somewhere between reception location and music for the evening. And
like everything on that list, there are options: outside or inside? DJ
or live band? Chicken or fish?

Features Erin Crowell Three Birds, One Stone: Mike Staff ‘s one-stop wedding service 1/24/11
By Erin Crowell
Aside from the all-important “I do,” no other moment of your wedding
day brings forth the culmination of such hard work and preparation
than when the bride and groom enter the reception.
It’s both a crescendo and a sigh of relief.

Features Erin Cowell National Writers Series 2011 1/17/11
The return of the National Writers Series
By Erin Crowell
If you thought the National Writers Series (NWS) was just another
festival to draw tourists to Northern Michigan, founder Doug Stanton
would tell you you’re wrong.

Features Erin Cowell Stranded: Terrie Gerbe spent a night in a blizzard on Highway 22
1/17/11
By Erin Crowell
Stranded
Terrie Gerbe spent a night in a blizzard on Highway 22
By Erin Crowell
Imagine being stranded in your vehicle for the night in the middle of
a blizzard. Hundreds of motorists have faced that peril this winter
in the storm-swept Midwest.
On Dec. 13, Shannon Kochis—a stylist at Salone de Capelli in Traverse
City—spent the day on her phone, checking for updates on her mother,
Terrie Gerbe, who was stranded in a snowstorm on Highway 22 between
London and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

Features Anne Stanton White Men Can Run: A report from Run Across Ethiopia 1/17/11
By Anne Stanton
On January 5, six runners left Traverse City to “Run Across Ethiopia”
-- an 11-day, 250-mile (plus) ultra-marathon conceived by Chris
Treter, who buys coffee beans from farmers in Southern Ethiopia. They
run at elevations of 6,000-7,700 feet in temperatures ranging up to
115 degrees.

Features Erin Crowell Allergy: more than Achoo!: When food intolerance becomes a life or death situation
By Erin Crowell
Several years ago, Zoe Batzer sat before a gymnasium full of high school
classmates—the back of her chair at her chest, arms folded over the
top—and proceeded to have a heart-to-heart with friends and with people
she hardly knew.

Features Robert Downes A Life of Adventure: Superfit Sara Cockrell follows her dream
By Robert Downes
Hiking solo for more than 40 miles across Isle Royale in her first-ever
backpacking trip is the kind of thing you expect from Sara Cockrell, one
of the most energetic and upbeat persons you could hope to find in the
Grand Traverse fitness community

Features Anne Stanton Maggie Daniels: Changing lives in Petoskey ... one muscle at a time
By Anne Stanton
Maggie Daniels’ life changed when she stopped smoking Tareyton cigarettes
at the age of 28. She took up the habit with a couple of rebellious high
school friends, but one day -- and she doesn’t remember why -- she stopped
smoking, just like switching off a light. If she had the urge for
nicotine, she’d get on the floor and do sit-ups. The pain, the headaches,
the cravings all stopped in a matter of two weeks. And in their stead,
Daniels discovered a lifelong passion for fitness and health.

Features Anne Stanton Beyond Spinning: Hard-core 90 minute sessions on a high-tech bike…
By Anne Stanton
Yes, we are in the dead of winter—a time when most serious cyclists put on their skate skis or snow shoes or ride a stationary bike. But now there’s a new option—a hardcore indoor cycling class for those determined to increase their speed and strength over the winter.
It’s almost guaranteed, said Lauri Brockmiller, who runs the class. Of course, there’s a niggling caveat. The cyclists must commit to a three-day-a-week, 90-minute training sessionover eight weeks and follow a specific ride progression of minutes and intensity.
“It’s hard not to get better when the training is dialed in,” said Brockmiller, who writes down the ride format on a card for each rider before each session.
Of course, a 90-minute ride (at 5 a.m. no less) is easier said than done. But the universal lesson in life is the more you put into it, the more you get out of it, plain and simple.

Features Anne Stanton The Volvo Volcano: Couple watches their car go up in
flames, but gets no sympathy from Volvo
By Anne Stanton
On the warm fall evening of September 21, James Weston Lynne and
Jamaica Lynne Weston were driving on East Silver Lake Road to a
meeting in their 1996 850 Volvo wagon.

Features Treadrite: Benzie entrepreneurs manufacture snowshoes from old tires
For years people have been trying to come up with ways to recycle old car tires. No longer acceptable in landfills, old tires have become an environmental nightmare. Now, two Benzie County entrepreneurs have developed one solution: making snowshoes from old tires.
“Well actually, someone else developed the concept -- he had a tire business here in Northern Michigan,” said Steve Herkner. “My partner Scott Griner and myself have a maple syrup business and we were looking for ways to get through the deep snow in February and March. The snowshoes out there today are really for groomed trails and not deep snow. Through a friend we came across these snowshoes made from old tires and they worked great.”
A few years back the partners left their snowshoes in a shed and over the summer mice chewed through the straps, so they set out to either have them repaired or purchase new ones.
“We called the guy we bought them from and he told us he quit making them. He was never really in business. he owned a tire shop and came up with the idea about 20 years ago,” said Scott Griner. “He just made them for family and friends and told us he wanted no part of making them so we asked him if we could buy his idea and equipment and he agreed.”