Official video for "Lost Our Minds" from Detroit swamp rock duo Ladyship Warship. Listen and download here: https://ladyshipwarship.bandcamp.com https://www.facebook.com/ladyshipwarship/ https://www.instagram.com/ladyship_warship Directed by Timothy David Jagielo for Y/Y/L https://www.facebook.com/YYL-2136574499928209/ Kristin Lyn: Drums, Vocals Eric EZ Myers: Guitar, Vocals

Last spring, Argentine Township resident and cosplayer Hannah Ball made her Black Wing Erza cosplay from the anime "Fairy Tail." The 24-year-old used EVA foam, worbla, and other materials to create the look. This is the first episode in the series, which explores what it takes to create, from scratch a fantasy character in real life. Episodes will be released periodically, as they re completed. Documentary by Tim Jagielo

By Tim Jagielo Mundy Twp. — It takes approximately three hours to milk 180 cows. Wearing rubber boots, Corner Oak Farm co-owner Julie Juengel walks up and down the milking parlor floor, making sure the milking machines are attached to the cows. She shuts off the ones that are done for the night. Juengel’s daughter, Amy, and son, Jason, 17, are helping to clean and treat the udders. When finished, they guide the cattle away from the parlor. Most know where they’re supposed to go, but are wary of anything new in their path — like a journalist with cameras. While everything appears to be fine at the farm and the grocery aisle, there is deep trouble for Michigan’s dairy farmers. For nearly four years, dairy farmers have been receiving approximately half the price for their milk, and dealing with escalating expenses. Worldwide, there is a surplus of milk, which is good for everyone but the milk producers. This surplus is pushing some producers out of the business and some have even considered suicide, according to milkbusiness.com. At Corner Oak Farm, the husband/wife team of Peter and Julie Juengel are hanging on by a thread, trying to keep the business going until it’s profitable again. “It’s rough,” Julie said. “We’re managing, we’re making cuts.” They’ve laid off employees, so everyone stepped in to do more.

Burton — Men in colorful clothing whirl to energetic singing, chanting and drumming, while the rest of the attendees sing and dance along in a communal celebration of breaking their Ramadan fast Tuesday, June, 4. During the celebrations, Hasan Siddiqui of Tyrone Township watches, sings and films the events via camcorder. His wife, Leona, minds their three small children and Hasan’s little sister upstairs. Several members of the As-Siddiq Institute and Mosque are from Fenton or Tyrone Township. These include the Siddiqui family and several others. The mosque’s spiritual leaders also live in Tyrone Township. Other “Eid al-Fitr” activities included giving gifts and greetings, a carnival for children and a feast downstairs. This three-day festival marks the end of one of the most significant annual events for Muslims, and is one of the pillars of their faith. The end of Ramadan means the end of fasting for 16 hours each day. During the 30 days of Ramadan, Muslims don’t eat or drink even water, and abstain from leisure activities they’d normally enjoy. “It’s a very beautiful experience, Ramadan,” Hasan said. “You’re obviously not eating, you don’t drink, you don’t have relations with your spouse, all worldly desires are cut off during the day. Your focus is completely on trying to better yourself.” He said Ramadan is a time of self-critique and self “auditing” to avoid being selfish or unkind. Being charitable is required. They also pray significantly more, and some congregations will read the entire Quran in 30 days. The first three days of fasting is the most difficult. Leona is a stay-at-home mother of small children. “It can be a little ugly the first week,” she said. After that, the family settles into a rhythm. The body adapts to fasting and it’s a little easier. Their children don’t fast, but they are aware of the season and have things like a Ramadan calendar, similar to an advent calendar with candy and a reading from the Quran each day. It depends on the family and the congregations, but total fasting can sometimes begin around the age of 13. The Ramadan schedule Ramadan is known to Muslims as the month of community, and their activities are designed to bring them together as a congregation. The Siddiquis wake at approximately 3 a.m. to eat breakfast as a congregation at the mosque. Then they pray from 4 to 6 a.m., and then sleep for a couple hours until waking up. Then they fast all day, and break fast at 9 p.m. again as a congregation at mosque. They pray from 10:30 p.m. to 11:45 a.m. and then go home to sleep until the next day begins. “It’s definitely a month to be a little less physically active,” Leona said. Some Ramadan seasons are very hot, but this year they benefitted from the mild, cool spring. Did you know — Believe it or not, participants tend to gain weight during Ramadan. “It’s also a ‘believe-it-or-not’ for a lot of Muslims,” Leona said with a laugh. This is because the body adapts to fewer calories and when the fasting ends and they feast, they can gain weight. Islam is one of the three “Abrahamic” faiths, which include Judaism and Christianity, which claim the prophet Abraham as their forefather. Islam reveres Israelite prophets such as Jesus. Hasan said Muslims are also waiting for the second coming of Jesus. “There’s so many commonalities,” Leona said, between the main monotheistic religions. “It’s not as different as you think.” Ramadan is a celebration of the month that God, or Allah, revealed the sacred texts to the Prophet Muhammad. According to The Independent, The tablets of Ibrahim, the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel and the Quran were sent down during this time. Photo called: sending separately Nurjihan Torabi of Fenton makes her way through the dense Eid celebration crowd Tuesday, June 4, in Burton. Several Fenton area residents attend Mosque here, and are celebrating their month of Ramadan coming to an end. Photo by Tim Jagielo

Video by Tim Jagielo; story by Sally Rummel Making beautiful music has taken on new meaning for one 11-year-old violinist, who has combined his love for music and engineering to build his first 3-D printed violin.  Dane Jarvis has been a student of Lisa Bayer of the Prelude String Orchestra for the past three years. Bayer had been researching the 3-D printing of musical instruments over the summer and mentioned it to Dane.  Immediately, this enterprising fifth-grader at State Road Elementary School in Fenton began saving his money to buy his own 3-D printer. His $200 became the seed money for a $600, 3-D printer and the start of Dane’s own business to build 3-D violins.  “We’ve been working on it since July,” said Bayer, who invested the other $400 to get the 3-D printed violin business started. “We got mine done first; now we’re working on Dane’s.”  The duo began working with 3-D printing instructions to produce the Hovalin, a functional acoustic 3-D printed violin, inspired by the Stradivarius violin model. Hovalin is the designer of the 3-D violin plans.  To listen to Bayer play her 3-D violin, you’d never know it wasn’t a finely crafted wood instrument in the Stradivarius tradition. “It’s a little bit quieter, that’s all,” said Bayer. “Violins tend to be super loud.”  Bayer’s violin is made out of half-spools each of green and white filament, creating her own signature Michigan State University Spartan violin. A 3-D printed violin can be made in just about any color, or combination of colors, even “glow in the dark.”  The total cost of raw materials for a Hovalin is about $70. Bayer and Dane plan to charge $250, accounting for at least a small portion of the time and skill it takes to create each one — still more affordable than an intermediate level violin, which can cost $600 or more.  The process for making a full-size violin built to Bayer’s high musical standards is long, and fraught with trial and error. The body of the violin takes a full 18 hours to print, and the neck about five to six hours.  The printing process is an additive one, creating the violin by laying down successive layers of filament under intense heat, about 410 F. “The neck alone has 180 layers,” said Bayer.  After the printing, the instrument needs to be sanded to smooth all the bumps. Then there’s the delicate task of stringing the instrument.  “Dane has figured out a lot of the glitches,” said Bayer. “You don’t just press a button and the violin prints. There are lots of things that can go wrong during the process. I’m just trying to stay out of his way.”  Bayer added that Dane is handling the research and actual printing, while she is the businessperson and coach. “We’re putting our heads together,” she said.  Their vision for the Prelude String Orchestra, for third- through eighth-graders, is that each violinist will have his or her own 3-D violin. “They’re much more durable than a wooden violin,” said Bayer. “Plus, kids can have the fun of choosing their own colors.’”  Presently, Dane can only print full-size violins, but is planning calculations to downsize so he could print quarter or half-size in the future. “Right now, we’re limited to full-size violins,” said Bayer. “We don’t have the printing capability to do cellos or basses.” See video on the Prelude String Orchestra's Facebook page

Fenton — On Saturday, June 8, dozens of vehicles lined up on Donaldson Drive at Fenton High School for the local Genesee County Recycle Day. Their vehicles are laden with old tires, cans of paint and unwanted electronics. Cody Roblyer is planning specialist with the Genesee County Metropolitan Planning Commission which coordinated the event. He said 1,362 vehicles came through. Residents drove their vehicles through the parking lot in two lanes with various stations and several attendants per station. In 2018, 160,000 pounds, or 80 tons was collected at a comparable recycling event in Grand Blanc. Of this amount, 100,000 pounds was from hazardous household materials, such as flammable liquids, aerosol cans, acidic products, batteries, mercury, fluorescent light bulbs and medical waste and sharps. The other 60,000 pounds was from electronics such as old televisions, computers and cell phones. There are Tuesday events in Flint July, August and September and another Saturday event in October.

'Perfect Spinning Joy' By Tim Jagielo Music by feeble.curses http://feeblecurses.bandcamp.com/ The footage was shot documentary-style at 50 Sips wine bar in Fenton, Michigan, on April 23, 2016. The relatively conservative town has been home to several drag shows, and this one happened to be the last show at that location before the bar officially closed down. Featured in order of appearance, are performers Ace DeVille, JonBenet and Cheetah Jameson, hailing from different parts of mid-Michigan. The trio prepped and performed to an enthusiastic crowd, while a clogged floor drain slowly encroached on their back stage space. After the footage was shot, I struggled to find a way to put the narrative together, until I heard the new feeble.curses album. The first time I combined trimmed footage with the music, it came together easily. Songs are 'Questionably,' and 'Near You.' This piece is named 'Perfect Spinning Joy' for several reasons. When the performers previewed a rough version of the video, Cheetah Jameson said, 'This makes me think of the movie Trantasia....and also the love, joy, and fun that we have working together.' It compactly described the performers themselves — the effort, and artistry that go into layers of makeup culminating in a perfect stage look/personality, leads to the physical performance itself, which was deeply enjoyed by the audience and the performers both. Also, personally as a journalist, I rarely can go out in public with a camera 'for fun,' and not be shooting for my newspaper. I was able to go out and shoot beautiful footage for fun on my own time, enjoy a drink (and pizza from a friend's table), chat with people, and actually be present as a person, while doing what I love — documenting. The room wasn't 'spinning' for me, but it did felt like I was in another place entirely. In all, the memories of shooting involves elements of colorfulness, safety, fun and new friends. — Tim Jagielo tech notes: everything was shot with a Nikon D500, handheld, with a Tamron 17-50mm VC lens. Minimal color correcting in Adobe Premiere Pro.