HighDive, Kalamazoo’s newest dining establishment, gets the Bites with Beca treatment. After opening their doors to the hungry public on January 18 for a soft opening, HighDive is making its case as Kalamazoo’s favorite dive bar with high-end food. So what did Beca think? Read the review here.
In an effort to support the local recovery community and raise awareness of the options available to those looking to join a program, Watershed Voice will regularly publish a list of meetings available in Three Rivers, Sturgis, Coldwater, and surrounding areas.
The Sturgis City Commission Wednesday announced the date of the first round of interviews for its vacant city manager position. The interviews will be open to the public.
Watershed Voice columnist Aundrea Sayrie writes, “I have wasted so much of my time and talent centering the ‘White gaze.’ A term coined by Toni Morrison to explain the concept of catering to and living under the constant scrutiny of white supremacy. It is the ethnocentric lens through which all behaviors pass. A tool used to measure anything to its proximity to Whiteness. The gold standard. Including behaviors, languages, bodies, literally everything. A close-minded approach, and standard we have been forced to uphold for survival’s sake.”
The potential of establishing an extreme weather center for the unhoused of Sturgis was further explored at Wednesday evening’s Sturgis City Commission meeting. Kristi Boughton of the St. Joe Community Co-Op said it could be months before an ordinance is passed that allows her to open the center.
The Three Rivers City Commission Tuesday adopted a resolution that will give residents 30 days to pay utility bills before penalties are applied. Commissioners also received an update on the demolition of the former Three Rivers hospital, and made a decision concerning the future home of Peaceful Rivers.
Watershed Voice columnist Aundrea Sayrie writes, “There is disappointment in finding oneself in a discriminatory situation. The event itself can leave you reeling, but what gets me every time, are the nice White people. The witnesses who do nothing. The ones that just stand there with all that privilege and watch. Complicit.”
Alek and Doug welcome poet, community activist, voice actor, author, and Watershed Voice columnist and board member Aundrea Sayrie. The long awaited interview with one of Watershed’s founding members doesn’t disappoint as Aundrea talks the origin story of Three Rivers Open Mic, her Black History Month series on WSV and why she decided to change the format this year, her ongoing health concerns and how they have changed her outlook on life, and an upcoming book she’s written about professional voice acting.
Glen Oaks Community College will be featured on “Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid,” an award-winning, short documentary series. The segment will feature how education is changing lives for today’s high school students.
For those in search of a unique way to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, Tattoo Date Night hosted by Portfolio Ink in downtown Three Rivers offers an opportunity for significant others to get inked and enjoy refreshments, games, and prizes.
Watershed Voice columnist Aundrea Sayrie writes, “Although there has been much recognition of the historical trauma experienced by people of color in this country, there has never been a time that these racist institutions have been tossed out and rebuilt. They have only been reimagined and enforced in ways that continue to oppress people of color. Racial inequalities exist in financial, educational, judicial, medical and social constructs.”
The Sturgis Downtown Development Authority (DDA) will be hosting the fifth-annual Ladies Night Out on Friday, February 10, a pre-Valentine’s Day event featuring a night of shopping, drinks, and giveaways.
Watershed Voice contributor Aubrey Barnes relays a recent conversation he had with his students about what a safe space should look like, and if such a place can be found in the confines of their school.
The City of Sturgis recently joined forces with the St Joseph County Intermediate School District’s Career and Technical Education program to provide courses next fall for Sturgis High School students in the culinary and hospitality fields.
In Michigan, about 566,000 applications from student loan borrowers were fully approved and their applications were sent to loan servicers for discharge prior to federal lawsuits and an injunction on providing the debt relief.
Watershed Voice columnist Aundrea Sayrie writes, “Never one to fold and knowing I am not the only one holding mixed emotions about what it means to be proud and Black, this year my focus is on highlighting sources of racial based traumatic stress, and their negative impact on the mental health of the Black community.”
Senate Bill 7 provides a funding boost for small businesses, housing, health care, job retention programs, family programs, water shutoff prevention and more.
The United States Supreme Court recently heard arguments in the case of a 27-year-old Sturgis man who is seeking the right to sue Sturgis Public Schools for financial damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On Wednesday, January 18, Supreme Court justices listened to oral arguments and appeared sympathetic toward Miguel Luna Perez, a deaf man who claims the school district provided him an inadequate education by failing to assign him a qualified sign-language interpreter.