Tulip City Dispatch

 Going WAY back to the very first post I made on this here blog , I talked about deep cuts, hidden spots, locals-only venues, and other truly weird stuff...It was apparently in my handwritten notebook that I mentioned "eccentric business owner with a squadron of garden gnomes," because I distinctly remember having the realization that there was, in fact, a business owner with a squadron of garden gnomes:  Lemonjello's Coffee. Now, I graduated from Jenison High School in the heat of the 2000s, when emo and indie culture were starting to blossom in a big way - I had friends who have posted things like "I'm so bummed, I just heard my favorite band on the radio :(" and I myself have unironically said "They're a pretty obscure band, you probably haven't heard of them."  And, from Jenison, there's this weird paradox where Holland is SO FAR AWAY, but Grand Rapids is *just right there*.  The faraway, exotic locale of Holland had this legendary...

 I came across this book, written by Veronica Bareman, by way of Instagram.  She and I have quite a few followers in common, so it's natural that her book promo came up on my feed.  I picked up the book and started paging through it, and realized that I've already done a LOT of the things in there, and continue to actively participate in a lot of them!  It seemed like a natural fit for me to take my historical perspective and apply it to some of the stories and recommendations in the book, and I certainly hope I can do so in a manner that'll uplift and support Ms. Bareman's vision and add some new context.  Words and thoughts are my own, and I'm in no way affiliated with her, Reedy Press, or anything...we may have shared a beer at Brew Merchant or something at some point, but I have no idea. With all that being said, I'll add the label "100ThingsToDo" to each blog post about an entry in the book, and if possible, I'll add corresponding pics to the ...