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.
Patsy Cline, the Muppets, Hamilton, the Spice Girls: You never know what might come up during the Darcy Wilkin Whatzit Hour at Edison's Dormouse Theatre, but you can count on bluegrass, folk, and a host who "Keep(s) on the Sunny Side," even if some tunes move a few to tears.
In a personal essay and through their artwork, Second Wave's Casey Grooten explores what it means to them to be a nonbinary person as they prepare to attend a Trans Pool Party. The pool party, hosted by OutFront Kalamazoo, invited transgender and gender nonconforming people who are 18 or over to come and swim in whatever attire felt most comfortable in a space free of judgment. OutFront's Faith Alliance is hosting a Trans Day of Visibility on March 18, 2023.
Progress is being made in finding a home for the POD community for the unhoused. Here's the latest.
Open since November, Dabney and Co., Kalamazoo's only current Black-owned bar, was created to be a safe space for that showcases the “elevated beauty of Black culture” through food, music, drinks, and art. "For me, it's really important, in every aspect of Dabney and Co., you feel exactly how you would when you come into a Black household. We treat you just like family,” says owner Daniel May.
Kalamazoo artist Jeanne Fields’ exhibit, “Dare to Be Aware: Our World Needs You,” is on display during February at the Epic Center’s Westin Gallery. While Field’s paintings present dichotomies between beauty and suffering, Fields says her show is primarily “about love.”
El programa PACE es uno de los innumerables recursos que los adultos mayores y sus familias pueden revisar, y a menudo perder, en busca de ayuda para que sus seres queridos puedan seguir viviendo en casa.
La edad promedio de un cuidador es de 49 años, pero alrededor del 24 % de los cuidadores adultos no remunerados (casi 13 millones de estadounidenses) tienen entre 18 y 34 años, según un informe de 2020 emitido por la Alianza Nacional para el Cuidado y AARP. Y eso no incluye a otros 5,4 millones de adolescentes que son cuidadores no remunerados. Dicen que el cuidado ha afectado su salud mental o física, o ambas.
Nurses surveyed in 2021 said the most common reason they planned to leave their job was that work had negatively affected their health and well-being. The second most common reason was insufficient staffing. Here's why it's important to provide care for them and what some are doing to make sure they get it.
Las enfermeras encuestadas en 2021 dijeron que la razón más común por la que planeaban dejar su trabajo era que el trabajo había afectado negativamente su salud y bienestar. La segunda razón más común fue la falta de personal. He aquí por qué es importante brindarles atención y lo que algunos están haciendo para asegurarse de que la reciban.
The pressure of being a caregiver become more common. AARP estimates the number of unpaid caregivers – roughly one of every five adults – has grown nearly 25% during the last half-decade, to about 50 million people.
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