grandrapids

Michigan High School Athletes can make a name for themselves

Posted on January 28, 2026January 28, 2026 by farlane

Yesterday the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MSHAA) unveiled their new name, image, and likeness (NIL) rule. Under the policy, a student-athlete may earn compensation from the individual use of their Personal Branding Activity (PBA), including activities such as commercials, product endorsements, personal appearances, autograph or photo sessions, merchandise, sports cards, apparel sales, group licensing, personal logos, or acting as a social media influencer. These must be individual opportunities for individual student-athletes.

They add that students can’t use the uniform, mascot, or name of any school and that they can’t endorse inappropriate things or be paid to play. Click through for all the info on PBA from MHSAA and let me know what you think about this.

I featured Steve’s photo 18 years ago but had to bring it back because it’s got the perfect “million dollar shot” vibe! Head over to Flickr to see his most popular pics!

Pope Frances Passes

Posted on April 21, 2025April 21, 2025 by farlane

Copper Top by Rudy Malmquist

I’d like to share my condolences to those mourning the passing of the Pope. The Associated Press shares that Pope Francis, the Catholic Church’s first Latin American pontiff, has died.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born Dec. 17, 1936, to Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the eldest of five children. He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1969 and led the religious order in Argentina during the country’s murderous dictatorship from 1976-83. He became archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and elevated to cardinal in 2001 by St. John Paul II. He was elected the 266th pope on March 13, 2013, on the fifth ballot.

Francis’s first included:

The first pope from the Americas.
The first from the Jesuit order to be elected pope.
The first to take the name of Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi.
The first to visit Iraq, meeting its top Shiite Muslim cleric in 2021.

Rudy took this photo of the Basilica of St Adalbert in Grand Rapids back in 2010. Head over to Flickr to see his latest.

Stevie Wonder coming to Detroit & Grand Rapids

Posted on September 23, 2024September 23, 2024 by farlane

Stevie Wonder Mural Detroit by Andrew McFarlane

mLive shares that Motown great and 25-time Grammy winner Stevie Wonder will be doing a pair of October concerts in Grand Rapids and Detroit, one at Little Caesars Arena in the Motor City on Tuesday, October 22, and the other at Van Andel Arena in GR on Wednesday, October 30. Tickets went on sale Friday – click those links before they’re gone!

The Detroit Free Press shares that the Stevie Wonder mural in downtown Detroit was finished in 2019 by London-based artist Richard Wilson who paid for the mural out of his own pocket!

Visible from Brush Street on the south-facing wall of the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Wilson’s portrait spans roughly 8,000 square feet and is large enough to be seen by an airplane passing overhead. “For me, he’s the greatest living singer, songwriter and musician,” said the 45-year-old Wilson. “In 300 years, I’m sure he’ll be looked (at) as a Beethoven, Mozart, Bach — that kind of epic influence on humanity.

This is another one of my pics. A couple ways you can support me are to subscribe to the Michigan in Pictures Facebook (and join the group) and for sure to toss me a couple bucks on Patreon!

Ghost Bikes

Posted on June 9, 2022 by farlane

Grand Rapids Ghost Bike by Patrick Goff

Summer in Michigan is a time when you’ll see a lot more bikes on the road, and I offer today’s post with the sincere hope that everyone who reads it remembers that 75% of all bicycle fatalities are caused by driver error. It’s your duty as a driver to PAY ATTENTION as you pilot a several thousand pound machine that can become a deadly weapon in an instant. GhostBikes.org shares:

Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. They serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists’ right to safe travel.

The first ghost bikes were created in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003. Currently there are over 500 ghost bikes that have since appeared in over 180 locations throughout the world. (current number is well over 600) For those who create and install the memorials, the death of a fellow bicyclist hits home. We all travel the same unsafe streets and face the same risks; it could just as easily be any one of us. Each time we say we hope to never have to do it again — but we remain committed to making these memorials as long as they are needed.

Patrick took this photo back in 2010. See more in his Hipstamatic gallery on Flickr.

PS: There’s a Michigan Ghostbikes group on Facebook in case you’d like to join.

MLK and the Garment of Destiny

Posted on January 17, 2022 by farlane

MLK Say ! by Rudy Malmquist

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham, Alabama jail, April 16, 1963

Today is the day America remembers civil rights giant Dr. Martin Luther King, and for me these words engraved on the north wall of the MLK Memorial in DC encapsulate both his work and the still incomplete journey to justice for every American, and for every person.

Are the conditions for justice for all better today than when Dr. King wrote those words? Unquestionably.

Are they as good as they can be? Of course not. As Flint, Benton Harbor, and other communities have shown, the drinkability of your water in Michigan depends in large part of the color of your skin. Three times as many Black Michiganders live in poverty and they face 7 years less lifespan on average, clearly demonstrating that a lot of the work that Dr. King championed still needs to be done.

For sure check out the Detroit March to Freedom of June 23, 1963 on Michigan in Pictures if you haven’t already. It was at the time the largest civil rights demonstration in U.S. history, with 125,000 marching down Woodward Avenue culminating in a speech by Dr. King at Cobo Hall that is recognized as his first delivery of the “I have a Dream” speech.

Rudy took this photo of graffiti in downtown Grand Rapids way back in 2009. See his latest on Flickr & Instagram.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road to ArtPrize

Posted on September 28, 2021September 28, 2021 by farlane

Art Prize – Tin Man by Daniel L

The annual Grand Rapids Art Prize is once again underway, running through this Sunday, October 3rd. The event was started back in 2009 & has become one of the nation’s leading public art competitions. This year nearly 900 entries are available to view & vote on. Here’s hoping you get a chance to visit!!

Daniel took this photo the other day – see more on his Flickr!

More ArtPrize on Michigan in Pictures.

PS: The Tin Man sculpture was created by Bill Secunda.

Fighting for Food Security

Posted on July 6, 2021 by farlane

Morning Sun by Richard Deming Photography

TechCrunch has a feature on a new Google service to help the millions of Americans struggling with food insecurity:

Google today is launching a new suite of resources for people struggling with food insecurity across the U.S. The project includes the launch of a new website “Find Food Support” that connects people to food support resources, including hotlines, SNAP information, and a Google Maps locator tool that points people to their local food banks, food pantries and school meal program pickup locations, among other things.

In an announcement, Google explains how the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a worsening food crisis in the U.S., which led to some 45 million people — or 1 in 7 Americans — experiencing food insecurity at some point during 2020. That figure was up 30% over 2019, the company noted. And of those 45 million people, 15 million were children.

While the pandemic’s impacts are starting to subside as businesses are reopening and in-person activities are resuming, many children will still go hungry during the summer months when school lunch programs become unavailable.

Head over to Google to find food support & be sure to remember your neighbors struggling with food insecurity when you give charitably!

Richard took this photo back in 2010 at the Fulton Street Farm Market in Grand Rapids. See more in his Farmers Markets 2010 gallery on Flickr.

More delicious Michigan food on Michigan in Pictures!

Grand Rapids Blues

Posted on March 10, 2021 by farlane

Blue Bridge by Dan Gaken

Dan shares:

I’ve never spent much time in Grand Rapids, but I have seen photos of this striking bridge across the Grand River. I wanted to capture the river as the sun went down. I love watching how quickly light can change. These three photos, all very different, were taken within 15-20 minutes of each other on Saturday, 6 March 2021. The photo above is the third in the series, taken at night with most of the light in the image now comes from the lights on the bridge, hotel windows and street lights.

Image 1: Just at sunset, you can see the warm tones from the last light on the buildings

Image 2: Blue hour – the sky almost balances the surface of the river perfectly

Coronavirus vaccine on the way from Michigan

Posted on December 14, 2020 by farlane

Deliverance by Ayman Haykal

Ayman writes: December 13, 2020 – A FedEx A300 freight plane takes off from Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, carrying the first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for distribution across the US.

You love to see a Michigan company once again stepping up to help our country in time of great need! Head over to Ayman’s Flickr for more pics!

Halloween Rewind: The Ada Witch

Posted on October 29, 2020 by farlane

Fulton Cemetery by Tom Syrba

Today’s tale comes from Michigan’s Otherside, The Ada Witch of Findley Cemetery:

The Ada Witch has been a popular legend in West Michigan for decades. For years, people have claimed to have witnessed a paranormal classic: “the lady in white.” She’s been seen wandering around the area of Findley Cemetery and surrounding roads. But who is this mysterious “lady in white”? Over the years, this entity was given the title of the “Ada Witch,” but it’s nothing more than a nickname. Within the legend, there is nothing to support that she was a practicing witch or anything of that nature. It’s just a dramatic name that makes a good tale….

The legend says a woman during the 1800’s had been cheating on her husband. She would sneak off into the night to meet her lover. Her husband began to suspect she was up to something and pretended to fall asleep one night. After his wife got up and snuck away, he followed her and found her in the arms of another man. Rage welled up inside him and in an instant, the husband attacked the adulterous couple, killing his wife first. The two men fought until they both died from the wounds they inflicted upon each other.

For many years now, people say they have heard the sounds of a fight taking place around the Findley area, only to find no one around. The area at one point must have been open for hunting before it was developed into a residential area. There have been reports from hunters feeling a presence in the area, hearing the ghostly fight, getting tapped on the shoulder only to find no one there and even seeing a ghostly woman in white.

Read on for Michigan Otherside’s account of their visit to the Findley Cemetery and her research into the story.

Tom captured this photo of the not-too-far-from-Ada Fulton Cemetery in Grand Rapids way back in 2007. See more in his Grand Rapids gallery on Flickr.

More ghost & spooky stories on Michigan in Pictures!

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