Zinta Aistars's Blog, page 30
January 15, 2013
Triple Love
by Zinta Aistars
Published in Kalamazoo College newsletter, BE LIGHT
January 15, 2013
Sam and Leigh Ann
This is a love story. A triple love story.
Yes, a growing and sometimes challenging triple love—between two Kalamazoo College graduates and the city of Detroit, between these two and their alma mater, and between these two: Leigh Ann Ulrey '11 and Sam Brennan '11.
Leigh Ann and Sam met as incoming freshmen. She was from Texas; he was from Grand Rapids, then Northville in his high s...
Published in Kalamazoo College newsletter, BE LIGHT
January 15, 2013
Sam and Leigh AnnThis is a love story. A triple love story.
Yes, a growing and sometimes challenging triple love—between two Kalamazoo College graduates and the city of Detroit, between these two and their alma mater, and between these two: Leigh Ann Ulrey '11 and Sam Brennan '11.
Leigh Ann and Sam met as incoming freshmen. She was from Texas; he was from Grand Rapids, then Northville in his high s...
January 11, 2013
I'm in the semifinals at Write Michigan!
My story, "Letting Go," was chosen from 600 entries to move up to the semifinals on January 11, 2013. Please read and give my story a vote if you think it worthy to move to the finals. You can vote once each week, up until January 31. Thank you!
Please visit WriteMichigan.org to read and vote.
Nearly 600 people from all over Michigan entered our inaugural writing competition. Entries in the 18-and-over and under-18 categories were judged during round one by West Michigan librarians a...
January 10, 2013
A Kalamazoo wine distributor's mission to save a great grape
by Zinta Aistars
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
January 10, 2013
Christine Skandis and her fine wines (Photo by Erik Holladay at eholladay.com)
Lots of people want to save certain animals from being lost to the world. Christine Skandis wants to make sure certain delicate grapes survive. She tells Zinta Aistars about her business, Skandis Fine Wines.
Since 2001, Christine Skandis, the businesswoman behind Skandis Fine Wine, sometimes referred to as "nectar of the gods...
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
January 10, 2013
Christine Skandis and her fine wines (Photo by Erik Holladay at eholladay.com)Lots of people want to save certain animals from being lost to the world. Christine Skandis wants to make sure certain delicate grapes survive. She tells Zinta Aistars about her business, Skandis Fine Wines.
Since 2001, Christine Skandis, the businesswoman behind Skandis Fine Wine, sometimes referred to as "nectar of the gods...
December 31, 2012
Seeing 2012 Out and Inviting 2013 In
by Zinta Aistars
Z
Throughout the year, I've been told that the glow of my life in 2012 shines through me. That I emanate the peace and contentment of where I am now in my life. Well, of course it does.
Who we are, what is inside us, and ultimately what we decide to keep around us, will color the moments of our every day. 2012 has been the best year of my life.
Not perfect, mind you. The best. Perfection is not something I worship or even wish to attain. Indeed, I think perfection highly overrate...
ZThroughout the year, I've been told that the glow of my life in 2012 shines through me. That I emanate the peace and contentment of where I am now in my life. Well, of course it does.
Who we are, what is inside us, and ultimately what we decide to keep around us, will color the moments of our every day. 2012 has been the best year of my life.
Not perfect, mind you. The best. Perfection is not something I worship or even wish to attain. Indeed, I think perfection highly overrate...
December 24, 2012
A Holiday Wish
by Zinta Aistars
Sweet moments running through my mind all day of Christmases past, present and future.
The meaning of this holiday has often been lost and perhaps never yet fully understood, the Christian roots grafted on over the centuries, not at all based on fact (some experts say Christ was actually born in July), and in recent decades have been lost in a pursuit of gifts, Christ faded farther and farther into the distance as Santa Claus has become ever more prominent.
Yet whatever th...
Sweet moments running through my mind all day of Christmases past, present and future.
The meaning of this holiday has often been lost and perhaps never yet fully understood, the Christian roots grafted on over the centuries, not at all based on fact (some experts say Christ was actually born in July), and in recent decades have been lost in a pursuit of gifts, Christ faded farther and farther into the distance as Santa Claus has become ever more prominent.
Yet whatever th...
December 16, 2012
Like so many of us ...
by Zinta Aistars
Guinnez at the Z Acres pond, reflecting
... I, too, have been immersed in the recent tragedy of the many lives lost in the Connecticut elementary school, so many of which were very young children: 20 children, 6 adults.
Initially, I was glued to watching news on CNN, the one station that I thought most sensitive to this kind of news story, and the one station that held back naming names when the incorrect one was being bandied about, and held back on spreading yet unconfirmed ne...
Guinnez at the Z Acres pond, reflecting... I, too, have been immersed in the recent tragedy of the many lives lost in the Connecticut elementary school, so many of which were very young children: 20 children, 6 adults.
Initially, I was glued to watching news on CNN, the one station that I thought most sensitive to this kind of news story, and the one station that held back naming names when the incorrect one was being bandied about, and held back on spreading yet unconfirmed ne...
December 6, 2012
Two consumed by fire set the community alight
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
Michelle Johnson (Photo by Erik Holladay at eholladay.com)Two consumed by fire set the community alightZINTA AISTARSTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2012It takes Fuel to feed Fire. Denise Miller and Michelle Johnson have worked out what's needed to keep the nonprofit Fire going. They talk to Zinta Aistars about what's at the heart of the many works they do across Kalamazoo.
Denise Miller and Michelle Johnson do far more than just nurture the arts i...
November 30, 2012
November 27, 2012
Cottage on the Hill: Featured on Tiny House Blog!
by Zinta Aistars
Published on Tiny House Blog, Nov. 26, 2012
I’ve long enjoyed Tiny House Blog, admiring the philosophy and the tiny houses featured on this popular site about living simply and small. In March 2012, I moved to a 100+ year old farmhouse in southwest Michigan on 10 acres, my dream come true, sweeter still because it had a tiny cottage on a wooded hill.
This fall, I weatherized the cottage, added a small deck, an outhouse, painted it inside, furnished it, creating a writer’s retrea...
Published on Tiny House Blog, Nov. 26, 2012
I’ve long enjoyed Tiny House Blog, admiring the philosophy and the tiny houses featured on this popular site about living simply and small. In March 2012, I moved to a 100+ year old farmhouse in southwest Michigan on 10 acres, my dream come true, sweeter still because it had a tiny cottage on a wooded hill.
This fall, I weatherized the cottage, added a small deck, an outhouse, painted it inside, furnished it, creating a writer’s retrea...
November 26, 2012
The Smoking Poet Talks to Authors - You?
The Smoking Poet Talks to Authors
One of our readers' favorite features—as well as ours!—is our author interviews. In 2013, we plan to expand on this feature and offer more interviews, introducing our readers to talented authors. Perhaps you have a favorite author and you want to know more about that author. Or, maybe you've never heard of a new rising star in the literary world, and we can introduce you to new reading pleasure. Our interviews are with both established and new auth...
