Belleville & Ypsilanti: Inside the Newsroom

Here you can find the musings of writers and editors of the Ypsilanti Courier and the Belleville View.


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Fried dough heaven

I have the privilege of living in Ypsilanti. With that privilege comes a lot of inside knowledge about Ypsi that I think the rest of the county misses out on. There are tons of innocuous looking places, especially places to eat, that are treasure troves of fun and deliciousness.

One of these places in Dom's Bakery, located at 1305 Washtenaw Ave., just west of Eastern Michigan University's campus.

It struck me today, as I waited in line to get my half-dozen paczki (don't you judge me, I shared), that Dom's is an Ypsilanti Gem. Unlike commercialized donut stores, Dom's is cheap, fresh and awesome.

Anyone who's ever gone to EMU or lived in Ypsilanti already knows what I'm about to tell you. Dom's Bakery has the best donuts. Ever. In the entire history of donuts. No one does them better!

Why? Because nothing beats paying $.65 for a fresh long john the width of my wrist. And because fresh doesn't mean made within the last two days. A lot of the time it means within a day. More times than not I've ventured in for a tasty late night snack and received a warm, gooey, obviously just off the drying rack donut. As an EMU student, it was the perfect late night food. Now, it's a perfect early morning comforting treat.

If I'm going to eat something like a donut, I'm going to make it worth it. And Dom's makes it worth it.
So if you haven't experience the calorie-killing bliss that is Dom's Bakery, do it before you regret it. Now, if you'll excuse me I still have one more paczki left...

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

In the near future

Joe and I are planning to visit the FAMA animal rescue shelter in Belleville sometime next week. I'm teased around the office of being more fond of puppies than people, so I'm particularly looking forward to this story. We're hoping to get at least three videos out of the trip, possibly four. Be sure to stay on the lookout for this feature, as it'll feature lots of cute, fluffy puppies and kittens. And let's face it, who doesn't love puppies and kittens?

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Out in the field

Yesterday, Joe and I covered the 46th annual Detroit RV show, and what a great experience it was! This was my first time as co-editor out of the office acting as a reporter. Joe and I were there mainly to shoot video for our website and get a local connection to the show in the form of National RV in Belleville. Norm Wells, the manager of the store, was great to talk to and gave quite a bit of information about the latest and greatest in campers and RVs. As someone who's not particularly well informed about that kind of thing, I still found it interesting nonetheless.
Joe getting ready with his video camera.

Secretary of State  Ruth Johnson talking with Rick Kessler (right)
and Tom Wolfe (center), of the DNR.


Who else did we meet? Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. That was definitely an amazing opportunity, and she's a very friendly and outgoing woman. She did a little promo about the DNR's recreational passport program, which allows anyone with a "P" sticker on their license plate to get into all 99 state parks. I talked with DNR official Tom Wolfe a little more about the program and am planning on writing a little blurb about what the passport program can do for you.

With all the videos and photos Joe and I shot, expect our website to be brimming with new stuff this weekend! The RV show lasts through this weekend, so be sure to check it out before it leaves. And for the kids, there are lots of information booths with prizes, and even some trainer dogs to pet! (Dogs happen to be a minor obsession of mine, so I was particularly excited to see them.) The show is located at the Suburban Collection Showplace, formerly the Rock Financial Showplace. It's located at 46100 Grand River Avenue, Novi, MI 48374.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Super Bowl Sunday

Patriots 38, Giants 16

Friday, February 3, 2012

Getting out to the schools

I love the work I do in  the newsroom. I enjoy pagination, I like working in PhotoShop, my co-workers are very nice and great fun to work with. But there is something exciting about being a journalist and getting out in the field.

I like meeting people, learning things and telling stories. And I enjoy going to get those stories in the schools.

Yesterday, I was Belleville Middle School South to report on the school's intramural programs. It was pretty cool to meet with the teachers and kids.

I was an education reporter for two years and sports editor (covering mostly high school sports) for five years so I have a lot experience reporting on school activities andit can be fun.

Kids are very honest and they enjoy having visitors come to their schools. Middle school kids are some of the best because they are old enough to understand my job as a reporter and young enough to think it's cool.

At Middle School South, there were some kids participating in an after-school skating event where the kids could skate through the halls of the building.

They liked the fact someone from the newspaper was there to video the activity and a few kids were showing off a little. It was fun because the kids asked me questions and wanted to make sure they were getting on the video.

Reporting on school activities is an important part of local journalism. It provides an opportunity for newspapers to get to know the young, potential readership and it will attract people to websites.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

All in a (busy) day's work

Thursdays are usually pretty busy in the morning for me, because in addition to my usual Belleville duties, I also help paginate other Heritage Media newspapers. Thursdays are the day I help work on the Grosse Ile paper, The Ile Camera, as well as the real estate section and (sometimes) entertainment section in The News-Herald, published in the Downriver area.

Whew! Even that sentence was tricky.

Today was an extra busy, though. There were a couple of breaking news stories I wanted to get published to our website--in particular, one from our freelance writer Jerry LaVaute about the possibility of schools closing in the Van Buren public school district. Did the website decide to cooperate with me? Of course not! Finally, after about a half hour wrestling with it and calling David Veselenak, I was able to get the story posted. Never mind that I had hoped to get it posted in a few minutes, rather than 30.

But the news didn't stop there. Joe Slezak, the special sections coordinator extraordinaire (among other titles) for the News-Herald had sent Joe Gray (my co-editor) and I an email informing us that longtime Belleville football coach Bob LaPointe had passed away on Tuesday and suggested we get something up about it right away. With Joe (Gray, not Slezak--wow, this is getting confusing) being away from the office filming video, my paginating duties were briefly put on hold while I did some research into where the funeral and visitation would be held and found some background information about the kind of coach LaPointe was.

It was actually rather exciting! Reporting (if you can even call what I described above as reporting) is not one of my more favorite activities in the journalism business, but I loved the rush of adrenaline I got trying to get something up on our website before our competitors did, and was successful! Definitely a great feeling. We'll be getting more on the story in a few days, but in the meantime, I was very happy to help out in the way I did.

Now things have slowed down (hence this post, as I actually have time to write it), so it's time to get back to my other duties. But it was definitely an exciting and hectic morning taking control of the newsroom.

Like the old saying goes, it's all in a day's work!

Old enough to be a time capsule

I never considered the age of 25 old, but after a recent article written by the Ypsilanti Courier's Rachelle Marshall, I'm feeling quite dusty as my 25th birthday approaches.
Rachelle attended Redner Elementary's 25th birthday celebration last week where the school dug up a time capsule buried in 1987.
I began to feel wrinkles emerging and joints creaking as I realized I'm old enough to be a time capsule, and not just a capsule that has been buried. I'm old enough to be a time capsule that has been buried, dug up and the items inside examined by the next generation.
One of the items inside the capsule was a floppy disk for a computer. I remember using these at home and in school frequently. According to Rachelle, the students were mystified by the ancient object from my youth.
It's weird being part of a generation that has already made a mark on history. I was used to being part of the young, impressionable, knowledge absorbing generation. Now, I'm old enough to be part of the past, educating the next generation on how things used to be.
The realization makes me examine what I've accomplished in my life, what I still want to do and how to set an example for the next generation.

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