Zinta Aistars's Blog, page 13
December 7, 2014
A Baltic Christmas Day 7 - Christmas, how it was, how it will be
by Zinta Aistars
as featured on Femme au foyer
Day Seven of A Baltic Christmas is by Zinta Aistars. Zinta writes at Zinta Aistars: On a Writer's Journey and is the creative director for Z Word, LLC, a writing and editing business.
I never did believe in Santa Claus. I didn’t need to. I saw his giving spirit in all of us: my parents, my grandparents, our Latvian community in Kalamazoo, Michigan, numbering near 2,000 souls around the time I was growing up—in the 60s and 70s. Our com...
as featured on Femme au foyer
Day Seven of A Baltic Christmas is by Zinta Aistars. Zinta writes at Zinta Aistars: On a Writer's Journey and is the creative director for Z Word, LLC, a writing and editing business.
I never did believe in Santa Claus. I didn’t need to. I saw his giving spirit in all of us: my parents, my grandparents, our Latvian community in Kalamazoo, Michigan, numbering near 2,000 souls around the time I was growing up—in the 60s and 70s. Our com...
December 5, 2014
Persephone Rises
by Zinta AistarsPublished in LuxEsto Fall 2014Kalamazoo College alumni magazine
Bakira Hasecic beckons Ivana Ivkovic ’95 to her garden in Sarajevo and fills her arms with vegetables. She piles potatoes and zucchini into the trunk of Ivkovic’s car, filling the crates crammed next to Ivana’s camera equipment.
“You are like another daughter to me,” says Bakira, and the two women embrace, holding back tears, a farewell until their next meeting. By now, the women have met on three occasions, and th...
Bakira Hasecic beckons Ivana Ivkovic ’95 to her garden in Sarajevo and fills her arms with vegetables. She piles potatoes and zucchini into the trunk of Ivkovic’s car, filling the crates crammed next to Ivana’s camera equipment.
“You are like another daughter to me,” says Bakira, and the two women embrace, holding back tears, a farewell until their next meeting. By now, the women have met on three occasions, and th...
November 24, 2014
Learn The History Of The Other Kellogg
by Zinta Aistars
for WMUK 102.1 FM
Southwest Michigan's NPR affiliate
W.K. Kellogg is best known for his breakfast cereals, but his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, is better known for running the Battle Creek Sanitarium and his seemingly radical religious beliefs.Kellogg was a Seventh-Day Adventist—a protestant denomination that focuses on the second coming of Jesus Christ as well as the idea of "biologic living."
WMU Professor and author Brian C. WilsonBrian C. Wilson is the author of ...
for WMUK 102.1 FM
Southwest Michigan's NPR affiliate
W.K. Kellogg is best known for his breakfast cereals, but his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, is better known for running the Battle Creek Sanitarium and his seemingly radical religious beliefs.Kellogg was a Seventh-Day Adventist—a protestant denomination that focuses on the second coming of Jesus Christ as well as the idea of "biologic living."
WMU Professor and author Brian C. WilsonBrian C. Wilson is the author of ...
November 20, 2014
Starting a conversation about keeping babies alive
by Zinta Aistars
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
November 20, 2014
Grace Lubwama (Photos by Susan Andress)
Why is the infant mortality rate for black babies higher than those of white babies in Kalamazoo? Grace Lubwama, the new chief executive officer at Kalamazoo's YWCA will be working on bringing those numbers down.
Grace Lubwama, the new chief executive officer at Kalamazoo’s YWCA, was eager to see the United States when she arrived in 1997 as a young student from...
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
November 20, 2014
Grace Lubwama (Photos by Susan Andress)
Why is the infant mortality rate for black babies higher than those of white babies in Kalamazoo? Grace Lubwama, the new chief executive officer at Kalamazoo's YWCA will be working on bringing those numbers down.
Grace Lubwama, the new chief executive officer at Kalamazoo’s YWCA, was eager to see the United States when she arrived in 1997 as a young student from...
November 16, 2014
BRAIN Lab: Putting scholarship and hearts in the right place
by Zinta Aistars
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
November 13, 2014
Ed Roth demonstrates a music therapy device (Photo by Susan Andress)
Together experts in occupational therapy, psychology, social work, exercise physiology, neuroscience, biological sciences, and medicine neurology and music therapy are learning how music can help those with neurological disorders.
The opiates the young mother used during pregnancy passed through the umbilical cord to her baby. Now that he...
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
November 13, 2014
Ed Roth demonstrates a music therapy device (Photo by Susan Andress)Together experts in occupational therapy, psychology, social work, exercise physiology, neuroscience, biological sciences, and medicine neurology and music therapy are learning how music can help those with neurological disorders.
The opiates the young mother used during pregnancy passed through the umbilical cord to her baby. Now that he...
November 11, 2014
Aging in Place: Helping Seniors Live Independently
by Zinta Aistars
Published on Golden Slippers Network
November 2014
The Center for Disease Control defines “aging in place” as the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level.With more Americans living longer—our life expectancy has increased about 30 years since 100 years ago—how we age and where we age is becoming an ever greater concern, not only for seniors, but also for the families and caregivers of sen...
Published on Golden Slippers Network
November 2014
The Center for Disease Control defines “aging in place” as the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level.With more Americans living longer—our life expectancy has increased about 30 years since 100 years ago—how we age and where we age is becoming an ever greater concern, not only for seniors, but also for the families and caregivers of sen...
November 5, 2014
Citizen Foresters plant more than trees with the Urban Forest Project
by Zinta Aistars
Published in Rapid Growth Media
Grand Rapids, Michigan
November 6, 2014
Left to right: Lee Mueller, Vic Foerster, Amanda St. Amour (Photo by Adam Bird)
As part of Grand Rapids' Urban Forest Project, Citizen Foresters plant trees and community knowledge as they try to increase the city's canopy. As the last of the leaves fall, Zinta Aistars reports on why it's important for urban neighborhoods to plant their own trees -- and tells you how you can get involved.
Almost everything depr...
Published in Rapid Growth Media
Grand Rapids, Michigan
November 6, 2014
Left to right: Lee Mueller, Vic Foerster, Amanda St. Amour (Photo by Adam Bird)As part of Grand Rapids' Urban Forest Project, Citizen Foresters plant trees and community knowledge as they try to increase the city's canopy. As the last of the leaves fall, Zinta Aistars reports on why it's important for urban neighborhoods to plant their own trees -- and tells you how you can get involved.
Almost everything depr...
October 30, 2014
Buying a meal will feed a hungry neighbor at Feed the World Cafe
by Zinta Aistars
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
October 30, 2014
Patrick Mixis (Photo by Susan Andress)
Patrick Mixis was appalled to find out how many hungry people there are in Kalamazoo. So he set about opening a restaurant that will help feed them as its customers get fed. Zinta Aistars has the story on Feed the World Cafe.
It’s a stunning statistic: 24 percent of all households in Kalamazoo County qualify as ALICE households. ALICE is an acronym coined by United Way in...
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
October 30, 2014
Patrick Mixis (Photo by Susan Andress)Patrick Mixis was appalled to find out how many hungry people there are in Kalamazoo. So he set about opening a restaurant that will help feed them as its customers get fed. Zinta Aistars has the story on Feed the World Cafe.
It’s a stunning statistic: 24 percent of all households in Kalamazoo County qualify as ALICE households. ALICE is an acronym coined by United Way in...
October 26, 2014
Invisible Traffic: Stories About When Life Hits You Like A Truck
by Zinta Aistars
for WMUK 102.1 FM radio
Southwest Michigan's NPR affiliate
Arts and More program
My WMUK 102.1 FM Arts and More interview with Deborah Ann Percy:
Deborah Ann Percy
In Deborah Ann Percy’s short story “The Woman Who Loved Paul Simon.” The main character has just about had it with her dinner date at a nice restaurant on Lake Michigan. Here's an excerpt:
for WMUK 102.1 FM radio
Southwest Michigan's NPR affiliate
Arts and More program
My WMUK 102.1 FM Arts and More interview with Deborah Ann Percy:
Deborah Ann PercyIn Deborah Ann Percy’s short story “The Woman Who Loved Paul Simon.” The main character has just about had it with her dinner date at a nice restaurant on Lake Michigan. Here's an excerpt:
Allison smiles and speaks slowly because she knows she’s no longer on safe ground with him, "Paul Simon’s songs have words about...
October 23, 2014
GS Custom Bullets helps you hit 'em with your best shot
by Zinta Aistars
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
October 23, 2014
Gina Schultz (Photo by Susan Andress)
Making bullets is part of the family business for the Schultzes. Today Gina Schultz runs the custom bullet business started by her father, a bulletsmith, in South Africa. Zinta Aistars reports on bullets designed to order.
Gina Schultz was 7 years old when her father first placed a gun in her hands. Schultz is the daughter of Gerard Schultz, owner of a gun shop in South...
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
October 23, 2014
Gina Schultz (Photo by Susan Andress)Making bullets is part of the family business for the Schultzes. Today Gina Schultz runs the custom bullet business started by her father, a bulletsmith, in South Africa. Zinta Aistars reports on bullets designed to order.
Gina Schultz was 7 years old when her father first placed a gun in her hands. Schultz is the daughter of Gerard Schultz, owner of a gun shop in South...
