March 19, 2024

Features


What's Behind the Orange Cone

Stuff We Love
March 16, 2024

This road construction season promises to be one for the ages, so we’re starting something new here at Northern Express. Each week, you’ll find a little orange cone next to one of our Top 10s. That icon means that business is in the middle of one of northern Michigan’s big construction zones, like the Grandview Parkway reconstruction, the Interlochen State Park renovation, or Charlevoix’s bascule bridge upgrade. While it might be a ... Read More >>


The Legacy of Marian Gyr: Environmentalist, Patriot, and Local Icon

Taking the road less traveled for 97 years
By Ross Boissoneau | March 16, 2024

You could say Marian Gyr took the road less traveled, but you’d need to apply that saying both literally and figuratively. She was a fierce advocate for numerous causes, going her own way despite whatever the prevailing winds were. A world traveler, she lived in Europe and Canada as well as here in northern Michigan. And when she passed away at the age of 97 in 2019, she’d logged thousands of miles ... Read More >>


Beyond the Ballot

Meet the League of Women Voters chapters of northern Michigan
By Kierstin Gunsberg | March 16, 2024

It was the spring of 1919, and president of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Carrie Chapman Catt was chomping at the bit. Even as the organization was celebrating its 50th anniversary, it still hadn’t completed its mission of equal voting rights for women. NAWSA had made headway, sure, having already won the right to vote in a handful of states, but the endgame was a constitutional amendment guaranteeing all women across ... Read More >>


The Modern OB-GYN

How two local doctors approach care, technology, and access
By Anna Faller | March 16, 2024

The field of medicine is in constant flux, and women’s health is no exception. In the last three decades alone, we’ve developed technologies for breast cancer detection, approved emergency contraception, and implemented critical research to decrease deaths from heart disease. In other words, obstetrician gynecologist (OB-GYN) services aren’t just for pregnant people. They’re part of a comprehensive field that can help keep patients healthy through each stage of life. Discourse surrounding reproductive ... Read More >>


Film Review: Anatomy of a Fall

5 Stars
By Joseph Beyer | March 16, 2024

If I had tried to convince you last week that Anatomy of a Fall was worth 2 hours and 32 minutes of your time, you may have ignored the rec. That’s because we, the American movie culture, don’t often venture outside our comfort zone when it comes to European films with occasional subtitles. But maybe now, hot on the heels of five Oscar nominations including Best Picture and a win for Best ... Read More >>


Transformational Libraries

March 16, 2024

Over the past two years, the American Library Association (ALA) has offered more than $7 million in grants to small and rural libraries through their Libraries Transforming Communities program, which aims to “increase the accessibility of facilities, services, and programs to better serve people with disabilities.” Of the 465 libraries across 45 states that have received funding through the program, three are right here in northern Michigan: Bellaire Public Library, Central Lake ... Read More >>


The Butterflies and the Bees

March 16, 2024

How much do you know about pollinators and native plants? The Wexford Conservation District is ready to up your knowledge game with their Pollinator Habitats Workshop on Wednesday, March 20, at 6:30pm. The workshop will cover which native and introduced plants attract pollinators, as well as help participants think about planting designs to bring pollinators to your yard. Along the way, you’ll learn about the needs of our buzzing, flying friends (hint: ... Read More >>


An Ecstatic Equinox

March 16, 2024

Celebrate the Spring Equinox (early this year: March 19) with the Day of Dance at the Cathedral Barn at Historic Barns Park in Traverse City. This full-day event is all about movement, with workshops, free-form dance classes, improv work, walks on the grounds of the park, and even some meditative sessions. The equinox finishes with an “ecstatic dance” from 7-10pm. According to event organizaters, “This is a space to connect with ourselves, ... Read More >>


A Woman of a Certain Age

By Jamie Kauffold | March 16, 2024

Staking her claim as “a woman of a certain age” who’s been through some “stuff,” award-winning songwriter, singer, and pianist Kit Holmes lands at the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts in Manistee for Women’s History Month on Friday, March 22, at 7pm. Holmes shares her mix of pop, jazz, blues, Americana, folk, and rock with a lot of humor, grace, and authenticity. Tickets, $25. ramsdelltheatre.org/event/kit-holmes-music Read More >>


Nine St. Patrick's Day Celebrations Around the North

Don your green and raise a pint!
By Brighid Driscoll | March 9, 2024

Even though St. Patrick was a Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland, today's version of St. Patrick's Day is not exactly what we’d call theological. (Unless of course you have a religious experience with green beer.) No, St. Pat’s—or Paddy’s, but never Patty’s—has become a day of revelry, and northern Michigan has plenty of ways to celebrate. We’ve compiled a list of local holiday fun for grown-ups and families alike to observe ... Read More >>

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