When something big happens in your life, sometimes you just have to get it out.
Talk to a friend. Share it with your family, or just shout it out loud.
You know, express yourself a little.
Expression through song writing and production are skills that the organizers of Studio on the Gohope to teach kids in Michigan.
Kyle Norris reports the program "travels to schools and community centers in Flint, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo":
Kids use computers and keyboards to make music and beats and then they write lyrics about their lives, and finally record the songs. Kids are given a topic to write about, like "education," “making it” and "family"... The results are songs about their personal struggles along with heartfelt tributes. Some kids sing about what it’s like to have someone they love die or to have a family member in jail. Instructors say the kids learn a combination of technical skills along with life skills.
Michigan Radio's Multimedia Producer Mercedes Mejia and Reporter Kyle Norris put this video together about the program:
If Studio on the Go came to your town, what would your "making it" or "family" song be about?
When a hand full of Cass Technical High School graduates from the class of '78 failed to call their fellow classmate for a field trip to the old school, Tony Lockard turned to social media.
Lockard posted a message on Facebook calling for fellow graduates to come out and bid farewell to the old building one last time. He says he got message from people from all over the country.
"One man said that he lived in four different continents, and he’s met somebody from Cass in four different continents. So Cass Tech touches not just locally, it’s a global reach."
Since June, demolition of the almost 100 year old building has been in progress. The facade of the building facing Second Avenue is the only thing still standing. Lockard hopes people will visit the site one last time and reunite with old friends.
Arvella Watkins says the building was special. She's a '65 Cass Tech graduate.
"Even now I have dreams about going to Cass and running up and down stairs and riding the elevators. ”
You can see video of the old school and hear interviews with Cass Tech graduates, including an interview with Michigan Radio's Jennifer White.
Rob Bliss is known around Grand Rapids for putting on some crazy events. World record Zombie Walks, giant community pillow fights, water balloon fights, the ‘world’s largest inflatable water slide’, electronic music festivals, sidewalk chalk floods…I’m sure I’m forgetting one or two.
The latest is a professional lip dup video featuring at least a thousand people from the Grand Rapids area.
Here's a video we put together on the making of the lip dub:
Sophie Knorek (right) and friend Leah South bottle feeding a lamb. Jack Knorek says farm life has taught their kids important lessons about life and death.
Large flocks of sheep are typically found in the Rocky Mountains, California, and Texas.
But there's a growing number of shepherds in Michigan.
There's solid demand for lamb meat from Michigan's ethnic communities. Lamb prices are good. And the farmland in Michigan not suited for traditional crops makes for good pasture.
I visited Jack and Martha Knorek who showed me around their farm during the height of spring lambing season.
The mama ewes were a little camera shy, so unfortunately I didn't get to see a lamb being born. One was born ten minutes before I arrived, and another was born about an hour after I left.
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