Kalamazoo’s name is so distinctive strangers around the world have been known to break into song at hearing the name. With such a recognizable moniker you’d think Kalamazoo wouldn’t need nicknames, but through the years changing names have reflected the city’s refusal to stand still. The Zoo, Celery City and the Mall City are a few. The innovative thinking that brought downtown K’zoo the nation’s first pedestrian mall in 1959 continues to work today. Innovators have developed thriving life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms. They build on the expertise of Kalamazoo’s universities. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Davenport College all are centers of research, development and technology. They surround a downtown vibrating with condos, apartments and homegrown, top-notch restaurants. The universities are woven into the city’s social fabric and contribute to a cultural scene that Kalamazooans love to boast about. The Kalamazoo Symphony, Kalamazoo Institute of Art and a vibrant local theater community are a few of the offerings. Locals also love their festivals that fill the air with music and the scents of ethnic foods wafting over the Arcadia Festival grounds and the Kalamazoo River. Outdoor activities from biking on the Kal-Haven trail to disc golf and standard golf on a nationally-acclaimed course in Milham Park are the start of the city’s leisure side. Sports fans have competitive college teams, minor league baseball and hockey to follow. And it all comes with a Promise. All high school graduates who live in Kalamazoo qualify for a scholarship that pays 100 percent of their tuition at any public university or community college.
“Music feeds the soul, feeds the brain, and it can be a wonderful way to commune with people,” says Joanna Steinhauser, concertmaster of the 'K Phil,' a multi-generational, Kalamazoo College community orchestra. “Students can sometimes live inside a bubble in college, but this gets them out of that bubble and to share something beautiful with the community.”
Philanthropy doesn't mean you have to have a lot of money, says Dr. Grace Lubwama, new CEO and President of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. Every person can leave a legacy. "But if you have a heart of charity, and care about this community, and want to see this community thrive," she says, "the community foundation is your partner on that journey."
A menudo se necesitan meses de experimentación para encontrar un fármaco psicotrópico eficaz. Hasta la mitad de los pacientes con trastorno depresivo mayor no responden al primer antidepresivo prescrito. Genemarkers de Kalamazoo se encuentra entre los que ofrecen una herramienta prometedora para abordar ese problema: una prueba que puede dar como resultado la prescripción de medicamentos con mayor precisión.
En los últimos 18 meses, la Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative -un grupo de 12 medios de comunicación locales y comunitarios- ha intensificado el debate publicando 70 reportajes sobre problemas de salud mental que afectan a residentes y organizaciones locales en el marco de su Proyecto de Bienestar Mental.
It often takes months of experimentation to find an effective psychotropic drug. Up to half of patients with major depressive disorder do not respond to the first antidepressant prescribed. Kalamazoo's Genemarkers is among those offering a promising tool to address that issue: a test that can result in prescribing drugs with greater accuracy.
“Growing up, everyone had asthma… we used to collect inhalers like they were Pokémon,” recalls Tyler Dancer while walking through his Northside neighborhood in early September. Envirosuite meters throughout the neighborhood now monitor hydrogen sulfide levels. Residents have filed a class action suit and formed a group, Kalamazoo Parents for Clean Air, to address the harmful impacts of industrial pollution.
What's new on the Kalamazoo substance use scene and what recent advances are there in treatment? Mark Wedel gets the latest from Chis Slater, Community Healing Centers CEO, in preparation for the Coming Together Conference Oct. 24-25.
Kalamazoo playwright Buddy Hannah was inspired by a friend's trip to the 1995 Million Man March in Washington D.C., an event that brought African American men together to empower them to improve their lives and communities. Hannah shares how that inspiration took hold and grew into "Two in a Million: Journey of a Lifetime."
While church attendance is shrinking worldwide and ethnic conflicts abound, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, the little church in Vine, is growing by the week. At some masses, the Lord's Prayer is recited in up to seven languages. “The world isn’t always about love and peace,” says Father Bryce Vasilios Buffenbarger. “But we hope people that come to this church will find it here."
Kalamazoo has many parks and nature preserves. Home yards can be connecting corridors between them, creating a thoroughfare for wildlife, birds, and pollinators. If enough local yards convert even by half to native plants, Kalamazoo could become a Homegrown National Park.
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