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Shop local this holiday season

Submitted 12-08-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

It’s time to think small this holiday season. While Small Business Saturday may be behind us, you can still make an impact in your community by shopping at small businesses this holiday season. If you have holiday shopping to tackle, we...

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Building community around a tabletop

Submitted 12-08-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

On a green, felt table a group of tabletop gamers lay out their board and its pieces, getting ready to begin their play. Their game of choice tonight: Agricola. The gamers will strategize, laugh, and engage with like-minded community members in a...

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Catalyst Radio: Grand Rapids DAPL Resistance Fellowship

Submitted 12-02-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

Download the audio here.  In this interview, we cover a local perspective on a global movement. Over this past year, tribes throughout the U.S. and world have come together in Standing Rock, North Dakota, to stand in solidarity with the...

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Local artist finds inspiration in moths, praying mantises, mysteries of tarot cards

Submitted 11-28-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

"I always wanted to be an artist. Well, or a ballerina," Molly Vega Burgess laughs. "Because you're supposed to." We are standing in her studio, a windowed but curtainless room on the second floor of her home. The minimal...

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From bartering to banking: A look at the historic money of Old Grand Rapids

Submitted 11-28-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

Have you ever wondered what kind of money people used when they came to Michigan and settled down in what would become Grand Rapids? Generally speaking, it wasn’t dollars and cents. In fact, there was very little actual money on the frontier....

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Inline skater joins cyclists on 500 mile journey to raise funds to fight poverty

Submitted 11-22-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

The Sea-to-Sea Tour is a physical challenge as well as a moral one. Sea-to-Sea asks us to unite as athletes as well as Christians. Around this time of year, we begin training for our leg of the journey; at the same time, we mobilize our communities...

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Catalyst Radio: The interfaith movement in West Michigan

Submitted 11-18-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

Interfaith engagement is the positive interaction between communities from various religious, spiritual, and secular backgrounds, and there has been a strong interfaith movement in West Michigan since the 1980s.  Katie Gordon, program director...

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Aquinas graduate publishes her first book, "Running in Silence"

Submitted 11-14-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

Rachael Steil has an impressive running résumé. As a student at Grandville High School, she broke numerous school records while on the track team. While an English major at Aquinas College, she was named an All-American collegiate runner, placed 7th...

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Detroit artist in first ArtPrize returns for UICA's "Coming Home" exhibition

Submitted 11-08-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

Mario Moore, originally from Detroit, is participating in Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts’ new exhibition, “Coming Home.” “Coming Home” highlights emerging and established Michigan artists. Mario Moore grew up...

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Classic film "E.T." unites musician, volunteer, concert-goer

Submitted 11-07-2016 under LOCAL LIFE

The Grand Rapids Symphony’s performance of John Williams’ score for "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" brought a sweet sense of nostalgia and close-knit community into Grand Rapids this weekend. Among those moved by the...

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