Don't mess with... Grand Rapids?

I suppose it's only natural for those toiling away in a dying medium to want to point a finger at something else and say, "Hey, that's dying, too!" But when the once-proud print journalism outlet, Newsweek, called my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan a dying city, they invited some blowback.

Grand Rapidians put together some time, talent, energy, and a relatively wee budget to produce a video that rivals OK Go's "This Too Shall Pass" or Feist's "1234" in planning and execution. And it set a record for "lip dub" videos.

Take a look.



No snark. No hate. No Newsweek-bashing. Just enthusiasm and joy. And orchestration, timing, steady-cam dolly work and blocking!

The video went live and was forwarded to Newsweek's Facebook page early and often by dwellers of the dead city. Newsweek retreated:

"we want you to know [the list of dying cities] was done by a website called mainstreet.com--not by Newsweek (it was unfortunately picked up on the Newsweek web site as part of a content sharing deal)--and it uses a methodology that our current editorial team doesn't endorse and wouldn't have employed. It certainly doesn't reflect our view of Grand Rapids.

Nice work, Grand Rapids!