I must admit it seems so easy to go to Target...where else can you get diapers, lawn fertilizer and a throw pillow you didn't know you needed until you saw it?  Oh yeah, at Meijer, Wal-Mart, or any of the others like them.  But when I look closer at the shops on my main street, I remember that they offer much more unique merchandise and a truly enjoyable experience.  More importantly, their existence creates a downtown and sense of community that I love.  MSHDA has a great new video that reminds me why it is so important to patronize my local downtown businesses.  It is good for them but even better for me.  Take a look, get inspired!

I'm still giddy from the big win this past Saturday on the football field, and equally thrilled to see my beloved East Lansing/MSU nationally recognized for their work in creating and incubating new local business ventures.  Entrepreneur magazine highlighted East Lansing/Michigan State University as one of the nation's 10 best college towns in which to start a business.  They say, "MSU Technologies is a tech transfer office on steroids," and feature the new East Lansing Technology Innovation Center.  Check out the full article to get even more ideas of how the city and university work together to grow high-tech jobs by ones and twos.  This is the true path to economic transformation in the 21st century, scholars and economists from across the nation assert it, and our communities are living it...hopefully many will have success on the scale of East Lansing.  Go Green!