Robert Downes

Features Robert Downes Graphic design has always been of supreme importance at Northern Express Weekly, helping to differentiate the paper from a glut of other publications throughout the region.
And if you’ve ever followed the flow of news racks in Northern Michigan, you can’t help but notice that the Express gets picked up very quickly at our 600 distribution spots compared to other publications.  A huge part of that popularity is the paper’s design: catchy covers, imaginative page layouts and ads that zing.
Putting it all together are graphic designers Colleen Zanotti and Kyra Cross, with an occasional assist from Kristin Rivard. 
Colleen has been with the Express for 15 years having completed the visual communications program at Northwestern Michigan College, while Kyra joined the Express in 2006 after graduating from Kendall College of Art and Design.  Kristin also attended NMC’s design program and joined the paper in 1998.
In the following interview, Colleen and Kyra offer some insights into what it takes to make the Express ‘picture perfect.’

Random Thoughts Robert Downes A Swinging Situation
Malaysian Airlines offers a friendly reminder and a cheery welcome to the
country in big block letters in its flight magazine:
“BE FOREWARNED DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS UNDER MALAYSIAN LAW.”
That message is repeated on the documents you sign when you cross the
border, and in case your reading skills are not so hot, the country used
to thoughtfully scatter billboards around picturing drug dealers hanging
by their necks from scaffolds.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes There seemed to be more panhandlers than ever on a trip to Chicago this
spring. Especially along Michigan Avenue south of the river it was like
running a gauntlet, with needy faces floating up like balloons from
hoodies and ear-flap hats every 100 yards or so along the sidewalk.
“Can you spare me something? I’m hungry... God bless you, have a good day...”
It’s not long before you find yourself avoiding eye contact. I’m not
averse to giving money to street people, but they’ve got to have an
obvious mental disability or missing a limb to qualify, and some of the
people we saw on Michigan Ave. looked like pros or anemic junkies

Features Robert Downes Sebastian Junger has lived a life of risk and near-misses. Not to mention
an ability to surprise his readers at every turn: He’s written about
firefighters battling 300-foot flames, doomed fishermen going down in a
hurricane, a serial killer working in his parent’s own home in a suburb of
Boston, and half-mad soldiers bottled up in an outpost in Afghanistan’s
“Valley of Death.”

Music Robert Downes When you ask Dan Hicks what to expect from his upcoming show in Traverse
City, he counters by asking if the concert hall is big enough to
accommodate his band’s elephant. “We travel with a live elephant and I’ll
be riding him out onto the stage,” he says.
One can assume that this master of funny, thoughtful songs dredged up
from the muddy currents of Americana, swing jazz and cowboy music is
kidding. But elephant or not, at the very least you can expect to hear
some choice pickin’ and vocals clickin’ when Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks
perform at the InsideOut Gallery in TC this Monday, May 16.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes The fatwa of Osama bin Laden
Experienced travelers know that the world is generally a safe place where
one is far more likely to encounter smiles and the hand of friendship than
the kind of scary situations we see on the TV news each night.
But it’s never wise to travel blind, and for Americans in particular, that
has meant being mindful of the fatwa of Osama bin Laden over the past 13
years.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes The fatwa of Osama bin Laden
Experienced travelers know that the world is generally a safe place where
one is far more likely to encounter smiles and the hand of friendship than
the kind of scary situations we see on the TV news each night.
But it’s never wise to travel blind, and for Americans in particular, that
has meant being mindful of the fatwa of Osama bin Laden over the past 13
years.

Features Robert Downes Brant Leonard inserts a needle the size of a half-inch finishing nail into
the stylus of a 1925 Victrola and lowers the arm on a 78 rpm recording of
“Mr. Sandman” by a long-lost girl band called the Chordettes...
Out pours a sound from the 1940s that’s as thick and rich as plush velvet,
and even though there are no electronic parts or speakers in the Victor’s
Orthophonic Credenza, the music is LOUD!!! It seems almost impossible,
considering this hand-cranked record player relies on a single resonating
wooden chamber as a speaker.

Features Robert Downes Brant Leonard inserts a needle the size of a half-inch finishing nail into
the stylus of a 1925 Victrola and lowers the arm on a 78 rpm recording of
“Mr. Sandman” by a long-lost girl band called the Chordettes...
Out pours a sound from the 1940s that’s as thick and rich as plush velvet,
and even though there are no electronic parts or speakers in the Victor’s
Orthophonic Credenza, the music is LOUD!!! It seems almost impossible,
considering this hand-cranked record player relies on a single resonating
wooden chamber as a speaker.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes Three Cups of Uproar
A tempest in a teapot for humanitarian Greg Mortenson
“When it comes right down to it I am nothing more than a fellow who took a
wrong turn in the mountains and never quite managed to find his way home.”

-- Greg Mortenson, Stones into Schools

Is author and adventurer Greg Mortenson -- who wrote Three Cups of Tea --
an outrageous liar or just a good-hearted humanitarian who happens to have
really sloppy business practices?
It depends on who you ask.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes To the Shores of Tripoli
Here’s a Trivia Pursuit history question for you: What was the first
country to ever declare war on the United States?
The answer is the North African country of Tripoli, which is known today
as Libya.
In 1801, Tripoli had the honor of being the first nation on earth to
declare war on the youthful U.S. (The British, remember, fought a war with
their colony, not the nation that came after the Revolution.)
The war gave rise to a tale of derring-do, America’s first secret agent,
and a “special ops” mission across 500 miles of the brutal Libyan Desert
by 8 U.S. Marines to the “shores of Tripoli” in a raid to rescue 307
Americans held captive by pirates.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes I‘ve been a member of four unions during my life, but didn‘t always
appreciate what it meant to be part of the brotherhood of labor.
For instance, as a newly-minted member of the UAW many years ago, I
scoffed at the idea of receiving health insurance as a union benefit.
Why would I ever need such a thing? I wondered.
I was 19 at the time and health insurance was a rare and novel thing,
entirely unknown among my peers. If you weren’t a union member or a
government employee, chances are you didn’t have it.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes Matters of Style
Someone once said that “style is a form of limitation.” By this, I
take it to mean that Lady Gaga probably wouldn’t do well on a
camping trip in her raw meat dress or one of her spacegirl suits
because her “style” has placed limits on what she can do in a
practical sense - like canoeing or pitching a tent.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes Exploratory Surgery
Remember the days of exploratory surgery? Probably not if you’re under the
age of 40, but in the days before the CT scan came into wide use back in
the ’70s, and certainly long before MRIs, surgeons had little choice but
to open you up and peek around at your innards if something like a tumor,
hernia, or internal bleeding was suspected.
Of course, this was a dangerous and uncertain form of diagnosis, fraught
with the risk of infection and sure to leave you with a painful surgical
wound with no guarantee that the surgeon would even find anything.
Perhaps it’s a misplaced metaphor, but I can’t help thinking that our new
Governor Rick Snyder is wearing those same bloody shoe covers in the
operating room of the state capital, trying to find out why his patient is
hemorrhaging and how to pump life back into Michigan before our state dies
on the table.

Features Robert Downes The Car-Free Life: Bill Palladino is on a roll year-round
By Robert Downes
“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”
-- H.G. Wells
At a time when most of us are just starting to think about getting our bicycles out of storage, Bill Palladino is looking back on another year of riding all winter long.
Two years ago, Palladino, 52, gave up his vehicle in favor of commuting by bicycle, which has been his preferred way of getting around since his teen years.
“I had a Saturn SUV, but the car sat in the parking lot most of the time. I only used it occasionally,” he recalls. “Then my nephew called and said he needed a car. I thought about it for a bit and then flew him up from Florida and gave him the keys -- the decision was made that fast for me.
“I’m part of the pedestrian and cycling advocacy community,” he adds. “And it seemed