The sign for Knight Cycle Works looks like it could have hung from an awning outside a business a century ago.
Gordon has long been friends with Al Foster, who had competed with a team in the World Class Double-block snow carving competition at Snowfest. “It always sounded like a lot of fun, so after a few years of telling the guys to bring me on, they finally did,” Gordon remembered. Al, who has been involved in snow carving since 1995, says that as a fellow artist, Gordon was a natural fit for Team USA- Flint. Ryan Leix joined the team one year after Gordon, and Sam Licavoli rounds out the group as the newest member, having joined in 2014.
Born to parents who met in Flint after migrating from the South, Bruce grew up surrounded by and immersed in music. “My father was the oldest of his siblings, so our house was the meeting place for the whole extended family. Every weekend, it was packed with people, and music was a big part of those gatherings. My sister and I used to practice dancing with the TV show American Bandstand. I was pretty good and my dad was so proud of us. He’d call us out to give little performances in front of the family.” As a child, Bruce remembers his sister’s friends loving to practice dancing with him too. “When I went to school, I used to dance with the girls at recess while the boys played ball,” he chuckled, “so I guess you could say I was endeared to dance from a young age.” In middle school, Bruce taught his friends to dance in preparation for parties. “Dancing was part of the social fabric of the black community,” he remembered, “because music in general played such a huge role. Fabulous black musicians performed in Flint, and after their sets, they came to houses like my aunt’s and played for us all night.” By the time Bruce was in high school, he was involved in sports like wrestling, football and swimming, but dancing remained an important part of his social life. “All the kids would practice, you know, when a big dance was coming up,” he explained.
Everyone from casual Halloween fans to those who live for all things spooky will enjoy Halloween Machine, a magazine jam-packed with all the thrills and chills of their favorite time of the year.
On September 8, the FIA experienced a Renaissance when over 70 Shakespearean enthusiasts, some in elaborate Elizabethan costume, gathered to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Shakespeare Club of Flint with period music, a feast and (what else?) a play! The club is the oldest continuously active one of its kind in the United States.
Lying flat on his back, Miguel Ruelan stared at the weight bar above him. On the bar’s ends was enough weight to total 451 pounds, an amount that would set a world bench-pressing record, if he could properly execute the lift. With three international judges scrutinizing his every move, the tension in the room was palpable. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead and a spectator’s cough broke the silence of the crowd. Taking a long, deep breath, he exhaled as he carefully lifted the bar off the rack. Seconds felt like hours as he held the massive weight above him, waiting for the judges’ command that would allow him to lower it …
What keeps Mark lacing up his shoes and hitting area roads on a regular basis? “I just like feeling healthy,” he says. “I haven’t felt anything but healthy my whole life. Before I started running I felt healthy because I was young, and running has kept me feeling that way.”
