"Tremendously Rewarding"

Betty Allen said she never experienced anything as wonderful as the kindness shown to her by some MSU students.
Two groups of 12 MSU students painted the 72-year-old New Orleans resident’s home during an Alternative Spring Break, or ASB, trip. The house suffered damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

• Living City

Taking & Giving

Marty Dolan takes tickets at the men’s basketball game against Ohio State on Feb. 21 at Breslin Center. Dolan is a 1955 MSU graduate that has been taking tickets at men’s basketball games for 50 years. He donates a large portion of his earnings from his ticket job back to the university’s Spartan Fund, which supports student-athletes.

The Hardest Game in the World

DeWitt resident Jacob Fortuna, center, leans away from his chess game to talk to Lansing resident Tony Nichols, left, while Nichol’s partner, Lansing resident B. Michael Williams, looks at the chess board. The three were gathered at Lansing Community College on Feb. 17 along with other members of the Lansing Chess Club, which meets at the school every Wednesday to play games. “It’s such a mind-blowing activity,” Williams said. “It’s such a difficult thing to do, being the hardest game in the world.”

A Bad Day for Fishing

“Its a lot like raising kids, (it) takes a lot of patience,” Grand Blanc resident Scott Truxton said about ice fishing. Truxton came to the Bath Township Parks and Recreation Ice Fishing Derby on Saturday at Park Lake with his kids and some friends to fish. “Its more about the fellowship than it is about catching fish. If you don’t catch anything you can always tell fish stories, nobody has to know if you actually caught one or not,” he said. No one in the group caught any award winning fish during the derby but Truxton said the outing was more for the kids. “(It gives) them a chance to try their hand at something different,” he said.

Michael's Autism World

Michael Swan, 13, holds hands with one of his aides, communicative sciences and disorders junior Brittany Anderson, in his home on a Saturday afternoon. Michael was diagnosed on the autism spectrum disorder as severely autistic when he was 2 years and 9 months old.

Lori Swan, Michael’s mother, was told he would never speak. He started speaking and gesturing when he was 8 years old. This is just one of the ways he has progressed, and he now is diagnosed as higher functioning. Michael has been enrolled in various therapies, has worked with different aides, and attends public school where he plays the snare drum in the band.

Michael has become more comfortable with people outside of his family, which typically is difficult for children diagnosed with autism because they lack the ability to create social connections. His parents want him to be as social as any other teenager his age.

Lori and her husband Gordon Swan are the founders of the Autism Foundation of Ingham County, which they decided to create as a resource for other families in the area.

The Haunting on Hodge Street

Kelvin VanDussen, 7-year-old son of homeowner Suzanne Draper, said of the attic, “Don’t go up there, there’s monsters up there!,” Saturday at their recently purchased home in Lansing. The family is renovating before moving in and was told there is an evil spirit haunting the house.

The day after closing on the home, Draper’s husband, Michael VanDussen, was told by the previous owner he was pushed out of a window by an evil spirit. After experiencing unexplainable things, Draper decided to call the Michigan Paranormal Research Association, or MPRA, for an investigation and house cleansing.

Founder and director Samantha Harris, assistant director Kyle Gask-Wilson and Michael Best made up the team of MPRA investigators that responded to Draper’s request. Using equal parts science and spirituality, the team performed a paranormal investigation on the house and followed with a house cleansing and blessing.

“We pride ourselves on not only doing an investigation, but also offering the client a solution,” Harris said.

A Day at Mrs.B's

For Tameka Billingslea, providing a day care service is about creating a family experience for parents and children. Billingslea provides day care at Mrs. B’s, 2445 Dobie Road, in Mason, through contracting with the MSU Family Resource Center, located on campus. MSU Family Resource Center coordinator Lori Strom said the center offers scholarship and grant opportunities to help student parents find and afford quality day care.

Friday Afternoon Jam Session

“I’m thinking about call numbers, index points and stuff like that when I’m cataloging all week and then for a half hour none of that crosses my mind,” Randy Scott, a comic art bibliographer, said. “It uses a different part of your brain to play music.” A group of MSU library staff and a retiree meet for a half hour every Friday in the special collections section of the Main Library to play old-fashioned swing and easy listening jazz tunes. They frequently switch among the bass, guitar, harmonica, drums and piano. “We try to keep it interesting just for ourselves; there is no audience,” Scott explained. “It’s a great recreation. That’s really all it is.”

"When you're here, you'll feel it."

East Lansing resident Evan Braedon holds his mandala beads while doing walking meditation on Nov. 11 at the Van Hanh Temple, 3015 S. Washington Square, in Lansing. Every Wednesday, the Lansing Area Mindfulness Community, a Buddhist sangha, practices at the temple together. After both walking and sitting meditation, the sangha, or “community,” participates in a dharma discussion. The group has been practicing together for about three years. “Sitting on a cushion with a group of people, there’s more energy,” East Lansing resident and practitioner Carolyn White said. “When you’re here, you’ll feel it.”