The Artist Within

"I started painting furniture because people didn't have furniture," explains artist Jane French. "And if you had a chair sitting out in the hallway, it wouldn't be there very long. Somebody would put it in their apartment. So I thought, 'Well, I'll just paint furniture on the walls,' and that's what I did. And then I started painting plants on the walls. And then I started thinking, 'Well, you know, just because we live in public housing doesn't mean we're not rich,' so I started painting elegant things on the walls." Read the story.

Dog Days Of Winter

Backyard Chickens

When the city of Ann Arbor finally made it legal to keep backyard chickens, Old West Side resident Eileen Dickinson figured she'd give it a try. Nearly six years later, Dickinson is raising her third flock of hens. Read the story.