The Smoking Poet Launches Spring 2013 Issue

The Smoking Poet

www.thesmokingpoet.com 

"Words that turn the page to flame"

Pages of Decomposition by Ladislav Hanka

The hours move quickly, and they accumulate. Hours become days, days become weeks, months, years, and then, we are looking at a lifetime. What have you accomplished in yours? How do you use your time?  

In spring 2013, a group of artists and writers gathered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and, under the direction of Sydnee Peters, created art around the concept of Hours. The result was a book, an art exhibit, and a poetry reading. In this issue of The Smoking Poet, we share a few of the poems and many of the art pieces from Hours. You'll see the art of these many artists on every page, and something about all the members of this group on Kalamazoo Arts: Hours.

We have also set aside a few hours to have fascinating conversations with two dynamic authors, Juris Jurjevics (Red Flags) and Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya (The Watch). Both of these writers have taken on the heartwrenching topic of war in their novels, and both have given it a very different perspective. Jurjevics writes about growing up during WWII and being a veteran of Vietnam, and Roy-Bhattacharya examines the war in Afghanistan through the lens of mythology. Is humanity doomed to forever be drawn into war—or is it possible to resist and bring war to an end? Read what these two have to say.

Along with fiction, nonfiction and poetry, we include social commentary on the page we call A Good Cause. This issue's contributor is Jeanne Hess, author of Sportuality: Finding Joy in the Games. She has taken on a controversial topic in sports—the objectification of women. Consider the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated. Are women a sport? Jeanne offers a fresh perspective.

Browse our book reviews. We add new reviews throughout the season, so come back now and then to see what we've been reading. And, we are offering a special on author interviews for future issues of The Smoking Poet. If you're a published author and would like to be interviewed, you may be interested in an interview/book review package.

With this issue, we are also introducing our newest Kalamazoo College intern, Stefano Cagnato, who came to us from Ecaudor. Stefano is interested in fiction and screenwriting, so along with helping us with this issue, he will be our fiction and nonfiction editor for the upcoming Summer 2013 issue. Welcome, Stefano!

Spend your hours well! Read, write, create, add your mark and make a difference.

With a good word,

Zinta Aistars

TSP Editor-in-Chief

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Much more than vegetables grow at Sprout Urban Farms

by Zinta Aistars
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
April 25, 2013

JEREMY ANDREWS, CEO OF SPROUT URBAN FARMS WITH EMPLOYEES REBECCA SPICER, LEFT, AND DEVON GIBSON, RIGHT, INSIDE THEIR GREENHOUSE IN BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN. - ERIK HOLLADAY

A community gathering to talk about ways to improve life where they live led to organizing a farm in the city. Zinta Aistars has the story of Sprout Urban Farm.

It's a staff meeting. Let's face it: staff meetings usually inspire yawns, doodles on notepads, and texting under the conference table. But this staff meeting is led by Jeremy Andrews, CEO of Sprout Urban Farms on 245 N. Kendall Street in Battle Creek, Michigan, and while there are notepads and laptops open on the table, and notes are indeed being taken, there are no yawns. Instead there is laughter, friendly jibes, general teasing, and a lot of enthusiasm, sprouting all around the table. 

 

That's because Andrews is no ordinary CEO. He spells it out. CEO stands for, he grins, "Chief Excitement Officer."  And Sprout Urban Farms is no ordinary farm. Sprout, as Andrews and his crew call it, is the hub of a grassroots movement born of a community gathering to discuss ways to improve, well, life. 

 

"The best initiatives come from a community, not at a community," Andrews says. It was 2009, he says, and he was working as a community organizer in Battle Creek. "About 100 residents showed up at our forum. People could talk about anything, propose anything."

 

What the people wanted was a community garden. In fact, everyone everywhere seemed to want community gardens, and so Andrews started to think--why not start one great community garden rather than scattered many gardens? And then … he did both. 

 

Sprout Urban Farms took shape from that grassroots initiative, built on grants, donations, and community enthusiasm. Now vegetables are grown year-round, if not in the garden, then in a large greenhouse, or inside hoop houses. From Sprout about 30 more community gardens  sprouted throughout the Battle Creek area. But that wasn't all. 

 

"We talked about gardening at that forum," Andrews says, "and we also talked about composting, harvesting, education, and workshops. We talked about improving food access, building a food co-op, getting youth involved."

Sprout Urban Farms grew quickly, and soon included all of these things.
 

Bright Star Farm became the one community garden. Compost Happens became the community compost project with a focus on youth engagement and environmental stewardship. Fresh on Wheels is the mobile market partnership between Sprout Urban Farms and the Battle Creek Community Foundation. The GreenFist Project is a gardening youth internship made up of youth, ages 16 to 23, from many of the school districts surrounding Battle Creek. 

 

More initiatives keep popping up, almost like weeds. Each new project brings more nourishment to the community. 

 

"Community food grows relationships, I always say,"  Andrews says with a nod.

 

Devon Gibson, also at the staff meeting, is operations manager for Sprout.

 

 "I got involved after I was a witness to a homicide right outside my house," he says. "It's a low income area, and there are a lot of those here. I wanted to do something for my community. I met Jeremy Andrews, and I thought he was crazy." Gibson shrugs. "Two years later ..."

TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE, VISIT SECOND WAVE.

Photography by Erik Holladay at erikholladay.com 

BabyQ Raises IQ for Pregnant Women

by Zinta Aistars
Published in Grand Rapids' Rapid Growth Media
April 25, 2013

EMILY GOSTINE BRANN WANTS TO HELP MAKE SMARTER MOTHERS. - ADAM BIRD

When Dr. Mark Gostine, MD found out his daughter Emily was expecting her first child, healthy pregnancies became an interest of his. This interest sparked babyQ, a website and mobile app dedicated to helping mothers have the healthiest pregnancies -- and babies -- possible.

Finding out she was pregnant with her first child came as a shock to Emily Brann. That's true for many women. Soon after this surprising news, however, Brann realized she had an advantage that most women do not. She had a direct line to a physician at all hours of the day and night -- her father.

"When you are pregnant, especially with your first child," Brann says, "it is a very vulnerable and insecure time in your life. But it's also very empowering."

Brann sent texts to her father, the physician, for advice. What should she eat? What kind of exercise is good and what kind is too much? How much should she change her lifestyle? What effect would daily stress have on her baby? Most of all, she wanted to know: what could she do to have the healthiest baby possible?

Brann's father, Mark Gostine, MD, sent back texts of advice to his daughter. Dr. Gostine is a specialist in pain management (founder and president of Michigan Pain Consultants), not obstetrics, but with the anticipation of his first grandchild, healthy pregnancies quickly became a keen interest.

"Initially, I gave Emily a lot of nutritional tips," says Gostine. "Then I was lying in bed one night, thinking about a recent study on vitamin D deficiencies."

Vitamin D deficiencies, Gostine had learned, appeared to have a strong link to preeclampsia, a condition in pregnant women involving soaring blood pressure and swelling of hands and feet. Preeclampsia can result in premature delivery, illness in the mother and baby, and even fatalities. 

Gostine has been a physician for 30 years, and he has been voted one of the best 100 doctors in his field in the U.S. Nutrition and general health education have always been a passion, and he was accustomed to guiding his patients in health education. Thinking about the importance of vitamin deficiencies when it comes to pregnancies and births, he began to consider what else might make a difference in positive outcomes for his daughter and for women everywhere.
What if he created an app for his daughter and other pregnant women to use? Something that could quickly and easily answer all her questions about having a healthy pregnancy leading to a healthy child. Something that could increase her IQ about having babies. IQ… or, babyQ.

Gostine paired his medical knowledge with that of Gareth Forde, MD, PhD, obstetrician-gynecologist -- and a clinical professor and a researcher -- and the two physicians founded babyQ, a website, and a complementary app for Smart Phones and tablets.

Once a person has registered on the app or website, a 25-question survey gathers information about lifestyle, exercise, nutrition, and stress management, resulting in a score -- the user's babyQ score. BabyQ refers to this as the LENS system. After that, the user is offered daily tips personalized to her responses and chances to improve her score.

"I looked at studies of children born in the Netherlands during World War II," Gostine says. "Children born during the Dutch famine had many more health problems than children born a year later, under healthier conditions." From those tragic circumstances, Gostine says, has come valuable knowledge about what women can do to improve the health of their babies in utero.  

Researchers saw less intellectual attainment over a lifetime in the babies born during famine, says Gostine. Babies were born smaller and earlier, metabolic rates were lower, blood sugars were at unhealthy levels. All because women weren't eating right and had high stress levels.

Lack of prenatal care, Gostine says, "can lead to ... "


READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT RAPID GROWTH.
Photography by Adam Bird.