Jim McFarlin
After interviewing lighting entrepreneur Ron Harwood for a profile (page 50), McFarlin believes the man personifies the spirit of Detroit. “He was born here, went to Wayne State, and while his company, Illuminating Concepts, has gone global, he’s chosen to stay here,” McFarlin says. “He’s tried to save his old school, Holcomb Elementary. He believes his Intellistreets lighting system could make Detroit a safer, more modern city. And he was the longtime manager for [blues legend] Sippie Wallace. He’s got all his Detroit bases covered.” Frequent Hour Detroit contributor McFarlin covers media and entertainment for numerous publications from his base outside Chicago.
Ilene Wolff
Wolff says she interviewed several remarkable people for this issue, but the Zwolinski family gets a special shout-out. “They welcomed me into their lives and were completely frank about their struggles with eating right and exercising with their two boys, one of whom is a special-needs child,” Wolff says. The Sterling Heights family is featured in a story about what oneadoctor calls our “obesigenic” society (page 80). In another story (page 45), this one in connection with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Joyce Gant and Denise Saccaro, two women at high risk for the disease, discuss how they and other women can be adversely affected by estrogen and estrogen wannabes in the foods and products we put in — and on — our bodies.
Jack Lessenberry
Lessenberry, who has been writing about politics for 30-plus years, first met “eternal general” Frank Kelley when he was running for U.S. Senate in 1972. “That was the only election he ever lost,” says Lessenberry, who is Michigan Radio’s senior political analyst. “And today, he would tell you he’s glad he did.” Lessenberry, who also teaches journalism full time at Wayne State University (WSU), came to know Kelley well much later, after he had become Michigan’s longest-serving attorney general. During his interview for this month’s profile (page 47), Lessenberry discovered that Kelley has written what he considers a “fascinating” unpublished memoir, and he’s attempting to arrange for WSU Press to publish the book. “Kelley knew, literally, everybody in politics in this state since the 1940s,” he says.
Jacqui Oakley
Oakley, a freelance illustrator born in Canada, spent her formative years in Bahrain, Zambia, and Libya. She returned to her native country for college and graduated from the illustration program at Sheridan College’s School of Art and Design in Oakville, Ontario. This month, her work accompanies “Doctors’ Orders” (page 84). “I thought it might be fun to work on an old-fashioned theme as a counterpoint to subject matter that can tend to be serious,” she says. “It’s nice to have some playfulness that people can relate to.” Oakley’s work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Spin, and ESPN Magazine. She also teaches at the Ontario College of Art & Design.
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