Tag Archives: Kickstarter

Middle class Michiganders to pay considerably more in taxes despite the anti-tax rhetoric of Lansing Republicans

By Mark | February 19, 2013

Reading an article in the Detroit Free Press this evening about how taxes are going up precipitously on working class Michiganders, I’m reminded of something that I wrote about a year ago for this site. Here’s how my post began. Why is it that we allow the Republicans to refer to themselves as the anti-tax [...]

Posted in Economics, Michigan, Observations, Politics | Also tagged anti-university, class warfare, crazy ideas that just might work, Earned Income Tax Credit, Ed Asner California Association of Teachers, EITC, Emergency Financial Manager, Emergency Financial Manager Act, higher education, income disparity, income tax, local income tax, Michael Stampfler, Michigan, Michigan Republicans, progressive taxation, public education, revolution, Rick Snyder, tax credits, tax policy, tax the rich, trickle down economics, we need a revolution | 20 Comments

Author Amy Cortese on the burgeoning “locavesting” movement, and how we can harness it in Michigan

By Mark | October 25, 2012

Next Tuesday, October 30, Think Local First will be bringing author Amy Cortese to Ann Arbor to discuss her book Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit From It. Following is my interview with Amy, who, in addition to being a published author, has written for the likes of the New York [...]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Economics, entrepreneurism, Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Retail, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Accelerating Community Capital, American Sustainable Business Council, Amy Cortese, Arbor Brewing Company, blood funnel, blue sky laws, butchershop, buy local, CDFI, Chamber of Commerce, Clare, community development loan funds, Cops & Doughnuts, crowdfunding, CSA, Dante Hesse, economic development, interviews, investing, Jobs Act, Judy Wicks, Jumpstart Our Business Startups, LION, lobbying, local investing, Local Investing Opportunities Network, Localist, locavesting, Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit From It, Main Street vs. Wall Street, Matt Greff, Milk Thistle Farm, move your money to a credit union, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, Port Townsend, Port Townsend LION, private placement, public offering, Rene Greff, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, single-payer system, Slow Money, Small Business Administration, Stacy Mitchell, subsidies, tax loopholes, tax reform, The Big Box Swindle, The Brinery, Think Local First, unaccredited investors, Woody Tasch, Zingerman's | 7 Comments

Promoting the Shadow Art Fair in Riverside Park at Midnight among armed strangers

By Mark | July 17, 2012

There wasn’t a post last night because I was out late, having my photo taken, along with the other members of the Michigan Design Militia, for an article about the upcoming Shadow Art Fair, which is supposed to appear tomorrow in Concentrate. The only time we could all get together was last night, at about [...]

Posted in Mark's Life, Media, Shadow Art Fair, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 1966, blow job, Bodies and Beats, Chris Sandon, Concentrate, Doug Coombe, Drunken Barn Dance, Exquisite Motion Corpse, George Clinton, green screen, Hot Boss, Hott Boss, Ian Fulcher, Machete, Melissa Dettloff, Michigan Design Militia, Mike Perini, Minus9, oral sex, public sex, Riverside Park, Saturday Looks Good To Me, selling out, Shadow Brew, The Beatles, tridge, Vinnie Massimino, WCBN, Yesterday and Today, Ypsi after dark | 15 Comments

Two Frenchies on what they love about Detroit’s “Do It Ourselves” culture, and why they’re making a film about it

By Mark | July 12, 2012

A few months ago, I received a nice note from two French filmmakers, who, for some reason, had stumbled across my site and liked it. Their names were Nora Mandray and Hélène Bienvenu, and, as I’d come to learn over the course of subsequent emails, they had been living in the the area for some [...]

Posted in Art and Culture, Detroit, Sustainability | Also tagged Arthur K. Peters Memorial Travel Grant, Beaubien, bikes, Caspar David Friedrich, Centre National de la Cinématographie, cities, community, community coming together, decent human community, decline, Detroit je t'aime, Detroit Soup, DIO, DIY, documentary film, Fender Bender, film making, France, French Film Institute, Fulbright scholars, generation Y, Grace Lee Boggs, hackers, Hantz Farms, Hungary, ingenuity, La Croix, Lafayette, metaphors, Nora Mandray, Packard Plant, parables, Paris, Paris Institute of Political Studies, post-industrial era, Recycle Here, Romain Meffre, Romantism, ruin porn, self-reliance, soup, the Detroit situation, the future of American cities, the lessons of Detroit, the parable of Detroit, UCLA, urban farming, urban food system, urban living, urban renewal, utopias, Yves Marchand | 21 Comments

Bona Sera Cafe to open next week in downtown Ypsilanti

By Mark | July 5, 2012

Having more than met the goals of their $10,000 Kickstarter campaign, word is that the Bona Sera Cafe, the brick and mortar Ypsi offshoot of the successful Bona Sera Supper Club, will be open for business as early as next week, on the ground floor of the historic Kresge building, at the intersection of Michigan [...]