Erin Crowell

Features Erin Crowell ‘Coolest Job in the World’: Microbiologist Jason Pratt uses science — and taste buds — at MillerCoors
By Erin Crowell
Jason Pratt may have one of the best jobs in the world – at least
that’s what his buddies think.
The 30-year-old Traverse City native is a yeast and fermentation
scientist for MillerCoors, meaning, he gets paid to swig beer every
day.

Features Erin Crowell Quirky, Local Threads at Roth Shirt Company
By Erin Crowell
We’ve all seen the Life is Good brand – t-shirts and other
paraphernalia with the crudely drawn, smiling stick man (a.k.a.
“Jack”) doing something outdoorsyish, the drawing accompanied by a
clever saying – usually a play on words.

Features Erin Crowell A Yen for Yoga New fitness center opens in downtown TC
By Erin Crowell
There’s a new yoga place in downtown Traverse City – however, Yen
Yoga, soon-to-be open on East Front Street is more than just a yoga
studio. The 7,000 square foot studio will be home to several
health-minded activities including spinning, Pilates and kettlebell
classes.

Features Erin Crowell Tampico offers a touch of Mexico & the Southwest
By Erin Crowell
Cris and Kathy Telgard have made a living out of travel shopping. It’s a job most people dream of and it has proven to be quite successful. The Telgards own Tampico, an eclectic boutique of jewelry, folk art and furniture, located on Main Street in downtown Leland.
The Telgards never intended to make a business out of their regular travels to Mexico. But soon after the couple started bringing back treasures, friends were sending them on their way with shopping lists.
“On one trip to Oaxaca, it was a revelation,” says Cris. “We had all our goodies spread out at our hotel room and we thought, ‘Wow, we could really make a living out of this.’”
So, the couple purchased a small building in Fishtown to sell their purchases.

Features Erin Crowell Crazy About Colantha: New dairy festival will celebrate a champion cow
By Erin Crowell
“The Holstein cow’s a wonderous thing:
She makes a feller’s pockets ring;
She fills ’em full and runs ’em o’er,
And pads up bank accounts, galore.

…An all the bossies graze, serene
Out where the grass is sweet and green;
Content to prosper those who join
The black and white for ready coin.”

--I.A. Kimble, 1925

Graves and insane asylums – creepy, right? Together, they conjure up
images of unkempt yards, wrought iron gates and stark buildings…maybe a
flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder.

Features Erin Crowell Charged Up: Supersized solar system powers new parking deck
By Erin Crowell
“The best market for solar is out over parking lots,” architect Robert
Noble said in a May 2010 Green Tech Media article. The founder of the
California-based company, Envision Solar, realized back in 2007 that
parking lot and carport roofs were ideal for collecting solar power.

Features Erin Crowell Catching the ‘Green’ Wave:: Eco-Building Products
By Erin Crowell
Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—an extension of
consumer tax incentives originally introduced in the Energy Policy Act
of 2005—homeowners are investing in eco-friendly building products now
more than ever.

Books Erin Crowell Strange Days: A Dead Sleeping Shaman meets her own end of the world
“Dead Sleeping Shaman”
By Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
Midnight Ink $14.95
By Erin Crowell
There’s something eerie going on in Northern Michigan, people are coming up dead and they’re doing it in strange places – at least is the case in the Emily Kincaid murder/mystery book series.
In “Dead Sleeping Shaman”—the follow-up to “Dead Dancing Women” and “Dead Floating Lovers”—local author (and Northern Express book reviewer) Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli returns readers to the world of writer Emily Kincaid, who is busy working on a Northern Michigan ghost town story when she happens to stumble across an old woman lying motionless against a tree near a remote walking trail.

Art Erin Crowell ConTEXTure: Dennos offers a marriage of poetry & sculpture
By Erin Crowell
At first glance, the ConTEXTure sculptures currently on display at the Dennos Museum Center look like a mess, thrown together by a five-year-old with way too much glue and freedom. They are convoluted works of art, colorful pieces held together by strands of wire, paint and other (sometimes unidentifiable) household objects.
Chaos, you could say.
But look closer and you will understand the amount of thought and work that went into each piece; how the web of strands seem to suspend, hold and balance each work. Every sculpture is accompanied by a poem, words that hold that same intricacy and consideration.
Sculptor Bill Allen and poet Fleda Brown combined their arts to create ConTEXTure: A Conversation Between Artists in Two Forms. Now on display through June 13 at the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City, the exhibit is a marriage – one medium giving voice to the other.

Features Erin Crowell Getting Back to Our Roots: Root cellars make a comeback during a rutted-out economy
By Erin Crowell
Think about your last shopping trip to the grocery store. What food
did you buy? How much did you buy? Did you eat everything you
purchased?

Features Erin Crowell Recycle A Bicycle: Don Cunkle’s repair marathon helps the homeless
By Erin Crowell
Traverse City resident Don Cunkle has restored and donated over 340 bicycles for area homeless and the economically disadvantaged since 2007. He hopes to reach close to half that number this Saturday, May 22, with the Recycle A Bicycle Marathon.
“I’m hoping to get a jump start on the bike giveaway program,” says Cunkle, who has already invested over 400 personal hours turning wrenches, greasing gears and scavenging yard sales.
The Recycle A Bicycle Repair Marathon will be held in the parking lot of the Career Tech Center in Traverse City, Saturday, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Cunkle and several other volunteers will collect and restore bicycles during that time. Area residents are invited to drop off or request pick-up for their unwanted bicycles.

Features Erin Crowell “It was a long two years,” Brittany Denzel says of her time earning cosmetology certification at Traverse City Beauty College. As the sole graduate on May 5, the 21-year-old Denzel donned a pink tiara and colorful eye shadow – a runway themed graduation that matched her outlook on life.
You could say the bubbly, outgoing young woman has been struttin’ her stuff. While many young adults face challenges after being discharged from the foster care system, Denzel has thrived. She will share her success story with audiences at the 9th Annual Festival of Tables, a fundraising event for Child and Family Services of Northwestern Michigan, held May 14 & 15 at the Hagerty Center in Traverse City.

Features Erin Crowell The Starkermann Challenge: 4 events, 3 days, one tough race
By Erin Crowell
Running is hard. So are triathlons, the multi-sport event that
combines running, swimming and biking into one race. Now, imagine
those disciplines spread out through the course of one weekend.

Books Erin Crowell The Books for Walls Project
By Erin Crowell
This story is about fathers and daughters, mothers and husbands. It’s about the sharing of ideas – a story about stories, inspired by a poem.
The Books for Walls Project is a virtual dinner table, surrounded by conversation. The topic is primordial, the medium – modern.
Enter www.BooksForWallsProject.org and discuss your favorite book, your newest book and books you have yet to read. Listen. Others are reading too.
Books for Walls was a family project, set in motion by a mother who wanted to share her family’s conversation about books, hoping to inspire others to join in the discussion – an open seat, if you will, around the dinner table.

Features Erin Crowell GreenFest aims for ‘edutainment’ by the Bay
By Erin Crowell
Earth Day may have come and gone this year, but there’s still an
opportunity to think “green” at the second annual GreenFest, which
invites residents and a
rea visitors to learn more about environ-mental products, services and
projects at Traverse City’s Clinch Park, on May 8, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
“We like to call it edutainment,” says Kim Pontius, executive vice
president of the Traverse Area Association of Realtors (TAAR), one of
the GreenFest sponsors. “The event combines educational resources with
entertainment. If people aren’t having fun, they’re just not
interested.”