Posts

The Great Denial: Genocide in Real Time

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“Genocide” is most commonly invoked in the past tense, used to describe an historical event. While genocides are underway they are often overshadowed by the larger context of war and can go unrecognized in the day to day, a civilian bombing here, a displacement there. Then there are refugee migrations, and forced famine. Most often it is from the safety of hindsight that a genocide be universally accepted as such and join the history books along side those of Armenia, Rwanda, Darfur, Cambodia, Germany and Srebrenica, to name just a few from recent history. Because in the past, due to the limits of gathering and disseminating information, many indicators of genocide of the past went unnoticed, the momentum of the killing would outpace the ability of society to identify a genocide and respond. Yet today we are watching in real time as it’s horrors unfold in Gaza. This is new terrain.

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Carrying her own backpack: daughter of global activist, Stella Young joins On the Ground

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The message from Timothy Young to his six-year-old daughter Stella was clear: you’ll carry your own backpack, throughout the trip. About that he was adamant. The trip was to Chiapas, Mexico, in 2007 to meet rural coffee-growing communities which Higher Grounds Trading Co. supported through the Chiapas Water Project. That journey has now come full circle. A year after she graduated from Kalamazoo College, the 2018 Glen Lake School graduate recently became director of development for On the Ground, the international nonprofit co-founded in 2010 by her father and Higher Grounds owner Chris Treter. The organization has supported coffee farmers in Chiapas, Ethiopia and the Congo, and olive farmers in the Palestinian West Bank. On the Ground will host a party and fundraiser on Thursday, Oct. 12, at The Alluvion at Commongrounds in Traverse City.

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Timothy Young: locavore, social entrepreneur

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Food For Thought has played a critical role in the local foods movement here in Northern Michigan. But when he started the business out of his house south of Empire in 1995, Timothy Young was one of just a handful of pioneers in this niche market. The demand for local foods has exploded over the last decade, and Young’s business has expanded to 10 full-time, year-round employees and a spattering of part-time and seasonal employees.

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Chiapas Water Project holds reunion for supporters

The Chiapas Water Project (CWP) Committee of On The Ground welcomes your presence at a reunion for supporters on Saturday, March 1 at the Old Art Building in Leland from 6-10 p.m. The evening will feature food and drink from local chefs along with a live and silent auction of treasures from regional artists and businesses, as well as artisan goods of Chiapas. Dancing and live music by Tim Sparling and friends will start at 8:30 p.m. There will also be a discussion of successes and challenges of water projects by current staff and board who returned from Chiapas in January.

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Solstice Runs benefit Glen Arbor Park Commission, Ethiopian schools

Endurance Evolution, the local marathon facilitator spearheaded by high school buddies Joel Gaff and Eric Houghton, will hold two races in Leelanau County this month to benefit good causes. On Saturday, June 15, athletes can run the Glen Arbor Solstice Half Marathon and 5K before the town’s BBQ and Brew festival, to benefit the Glen Arbor Park Commission.

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Nocturnal Solstice Run through Leelanau supports education in Ethiopia

Endurance Evolution and On The Ground have teamed up to raise funds to build a library in a remote village in Ethiopia. Area runners are invited to run The Solstice Run, which will travel from the northern tip of the Leelanau Peninsula to the beaches of West Grand Traverse Bay in Traverse City. Runners can choose the a full 40 miles, 20 miles, or a four-person relay (roughly 10 miles per runner).

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Locally-made documentary about Palestinian olive farmers shows at Leelanau School

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The People and the Olive, a feature-length documentary about the daily joys and struggles of Palestinian olive farmers living under the occupation, and last year’s Run Across Palestine (an initiative of the Traverse City-based nonprofit On the Ground, which supports fair-trade farmers around the world), will show at The Leelanau School north of Glen Arbor on Tuesday, May 7, from 2-4 p.m. The event is free, and the public are invited to attend. The film was created by Traverse City filmmaker Aaron Dennis and journalist Jacob Wheeler (founding editor of the Glen Arbor Sun). Wheeler will attend and take part in a question-and-answer session following the screening.

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Crossing barriers in the Holy Land

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Traverse City filmmaker Aaron Dennis (his dad, Jerry, writes wonderful books about the Great Lakes) and I are thrilled that the State Theatre in Traverse City will host the world premier of our documentary, The People and the Olive, on Monday, Sept. 10 at 6:30 p.m.

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Run Across Ethiopia film premiers at State Theatre

The Glen Arbor Sun chronicled On the Ground’s Run Across Ethiopia this past January, as editor Jacob Wheeler joined a team of runners who traversed 250 miles across rural Ethiopia to raise money for fair-trade coffee farmers. Now “When We Run”, videographer James Weston’s documentary about Run Across Ethiopia, will premier this Saturday at 8 p.m. at the State Theatre as part of the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference.

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