City Pulse Party! Sept. 6th at Paradise. More Info..

Inside Sparty’s Third Reich roots
By Daniel Sturm

He is without question the most popular figure on Michigan State University’s campus: the Spartan, better known as “Sparty,” a three-ton, 11-foot-high colossus. You can find his face on cups, sweatshirts and jackets, and meet him in person as a full-bodied mascot at MSU celebrations and football games. Since he was erected in 1945, university officials proudly call him the largest freestanding ceramic figure in the world.
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When the smoke clears, where will the money go?
Four years ago, Michigan, along with 45 other states, settled a lawsuit with the tobacco industry to recover smoking-related health care costs, to reduce youth tobacco use and especially to decrease tobacco marketing to kids. The industry committed to paying $246 billion over the next 25 years, including $8 billion to Michigan. Since 1998 the state has already received $610 million.
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Fund-raiser goes forth
Word is getting around that City Pulse will throw a benefit for itself next month. One reader called to donate a gift by credit card since she can’t attend. Another mailed a check. Muralist Henrique Bertulani dropped off a painting – at 34 inches by 44 inches, one of his smaller works – to add to the original City Pulse covers to be auctioned.
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Lansing: John Pollard
Lansing’s City Clerk making ‘minor’ progress

Civil Liberties: Henry Silverman
Bigotry threatens academic freedom at UNC

Sports: Mike Sinnott
Step up and pay, big Daddy



Java’s on at Jam and Zone
The atmospheric gradient between two new Lansing-area coffee shops — Coffee Jam, near Creyts Road and I-496, and Coffee Zone, near the corner of Turner and North Grand River Avenue in Old Town — could hardly be steeper. The Jam is a bright daffodil of hospitality sprouting cheerily through the hot asphalt, strip malls and office complexes of the West Side; the Zone is a darkly glittering vault of Arabica tucked into the venerable lintels and gargoyles of the city’s oldest area.
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Live & Local:
Your guide to live entertainment in Lansing and the surrounding area!

Art:
Making impressions at Clayworks
Kresge nearing decade-old dream: expansion

Music:
What is this ‘emo’ thing?

Theater:
Riverwalk’s ‘Planet’ is a very moving look at AIDS
Disciplined, serious acting can be seen in ‘Broken Glass’




Internet & Technology: Bonnie Bucqueroux
Chatterbots and personal assistants: What does it mean to be human? Go ask A.L.I.C.E.

Advice Goddess: Amy Alkon
You’ve gotta have separation to have ‘separation anxiety’

Restaurant Guide:
Previous restaurant reviews

Letter to the Editor