"Slavery to Freedom: An American Odyssey" is an annual lecture series commemorating Black History Month featuring three speakers who have become icons of the African-American struggle for civil rights. Vincent Harding, 81, is the second speaker in the series. Harding is an historian, author and professor. He also wrote speeches for Martin Luther King Jr., including his famous "A Time to Break Silence" speech in 1967 that took a firm stand against the war in Vietnam.

Lansing is in the middle of a brewing renaissance — and the outlook is only getting sudsier. In the last year, we've seen an influx of homebrew supply stores, a flurry of craft beer taps pop up in restaurants all over town and the opening of two new microbreweries — with the promise of two more to come before 2014. So what's the deal — did Homer Simpson find a genie's lamp or something?

Of the many things Michigan is famous for — the Great Lakes, Motown music, Madonna — some things tend to fly under the national radar and remain (mostly) local secrets — the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mackinac Island, Bruce Campbell. You may be surprised to find out that the subject of this month's Food Fight is one of these Michigan originals: olive burgers.

Less than three years after it began, Meridian Mall's fledgling "art mecca" will soon be uninstalled, having never made it past its first phase. It's an inauspicious end to what was supposed have been a bold expansion of the thriving Lansing art gallery scene.

"Slavery to Freedom: An American Odyssey" is an annual lecture series commemorating Black History Month. Three different speakers will be featured who have become icons of the African-American struggle for civil rights. Donzaleigh Abernathy, 55, is a playwright and actress, appearing in shows such as "The Walking Dead" and "Shameless."

It's pretty much settled that humans are responsible for changing the world's climate. Unfortunately, we're submerged in the world of pop culture where loud-mouthed idiots like Rush Limbaugh dupe Americans into questioning the facts. It's sad that people even think climate change is still up for discussion.

There's a scene near the beginning of Act II of "Billy Elliot the Musical" when the 12-year-old title character (played by Ben Cook) has a vision of himself as a grown-up ballet dancer. As the lights dim and the theme from "Swan Lake" begins, smoke pours across the stage and the two start to dance in unison.

Scrolling through William Shatner's IMDb profile is like studying the pop culture fossil record — an assertion he all but confirms after I tell him, in a bold understatement, that he's had a long career.

By my count, more than three dozen Asian restaurants operate in greater Lansing. That includes a wide range of Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Thai places — not to mention restaurants specializing in creative sushi and pan-Asian fare. If there's a style of ethnic cuisine in town that's covered, Asian would seem to be it.

Extraordinary real-life events can make for some great movies. Change a few names, insert a love interest, cut, print and call it a day. Take "Argo," for example — with its combination of political intrigue, Hollywood insider-ism and armchair-gripping suspense, it's a textbook case of a true story that goes great with a little butter and salt.