Village Life: A nutritious conversation
By Canisha Bell Sitting at our monthly writer’s meeting for the magazine — where we pitch story ideas and talk about life, politics, and everything in between — I felt settled. I hadn’t brought a story to pitch, as it’s not a requirement. There are always story ideas though, so if you come to our gathering without a story, most likely you’ll still leave with one. “I thought of you for this one,” my editor said, smiling at me. I...
Village Life: A feast of inspiration
By Kate Stockrahm There are certain things that can only happen in shared spaces of apartment complexes — some good, some less good. The less good things include a mess left behind when someone’s trash bag breaks in the stairwell, the smells of uncertain origin as you walk down the hallway to your unit, or when the elevator is out (again). But the good things have always outweighed the bad for me. In shared spaces, like the yard near...
Village Life: It’s Hard to be Blue at Bluebell
By Kate Stockrahm With construction happening nearly everywhere one can walk downtown this summer, I decided to spend a recent afternoon break at a place that always feels light-years away from the noise and dust of the city: Bluebell Beach. Google describes Bluebell as a “lakeside park along the Flint River Bike Path featuring a sandy beach, a splash pad & shade kites,” but as I was walking past a couple on the way from the...
Village Life: Let’s get to important things, again
By Kate Stockrahm In the first ever issue of East Village Magazine on July 3, 1976, our late founder Gary Custer got straight to the point. “It’s customary for a new publication to justify its existence by running a long list of idealistic goals in its premier issue,” he wrote. “We’ll pass up that tradition.” In that early editorial, entitled “Let’s get to important things,” Custer said EVM wouldn’t waste precious space on expounding...
Village Life: If a mouse could take a shower, what does a naked guy do?
By Tom Travis Both the mouse and I were upset with the positions we found ourselves in. I flipped on the light inside my shower and turned the water on as I’ve done every morning. But this morning a mouse scampered across the bottom of my tub/shower. It was clawing desperately to get out of the tub. I jumped back with a startled scream. It turned and looked at me, I stared at the mouse. I could see his little mouse heart beating...
My bug splattered windshield was a metaphor for life that can be tough
By Tom Travis It was one of the first warm summer weekends. The bugs were all abuzz as I zoomed down I-69 on my 500-mile trip to southern Indiana for my youngest son’s high school graduation. Along the way, my car window got splattered with bugs. I’m usually kind of nuts about having a clean windshield. During the summer I grab the squeegee every time I stop for gas and give my front window a once over. I don’t know why I’m so...
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