Robert Downes

Random Thoughts Robert Downes If you happened to be enjoying the beaches of Northern Michigan in the
summer of 1811, chances are you were a member of the Chippewa or Odawa
Indian tribes.
Imagine living in a bark lodge along Lake Michigan or the inland lakes
that summer. Much of the season was spent fishing and drying the catch in
preparation for the winter to come. Nights were spent under a fresco of
stars that we rarely see these days, yet these stars had gazed down on a
way of life that had existed along these shores for thousands of years.
Next year, we will honor the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 between
Britain and the United States -- a country which was barely out of its
cradle at the time. Northern Michigan played a key role in the war, and
the Mackinac Straits in particular were of global strategic importance.
So let’s set the Wayback Machine for the summer before the war to set the
stage for what we’ll be celebrating this time next year.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes The True Believers
Blogging is where it’s at these days for alternative newspapers serving
the largest cities in America.
Blogging about local theater, trendy cocktails, city politics, transgender
issues, bicycling, Lithuanian hip-hop, video dating for dogs & cats...
pretty much anything an inspired (and often unpaid) blogger is willing to
peck out on a keyboard.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes The 27 Club
“They tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no...”
-- “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse
Some 2,500 years ago, Buddha offered the advice that the best path through
life is the “middle way.” The former prince who gave up his kingdom and
all its pleasures to live naked and alone in the forest prior to becoming
a holy man learned that too much or too little of anything was no good.
In particular, he meant money, fame and power.
We seldom think about the benefits of the middle way here in the West
where songs such as “If I Had a Million Dollars” by The Barenaked Ladies
and “I Want to Be a Billionaire (so freakin’ bad)” by Travie McCoy spell
out the daydreams of millions of people. Winning the lottery, bagging the
cute bachelor on TV, dancing to the stars and the meth-rush euphoria of
being named an Idol are the dreams of our society as expressed in the
media. No one wants to get voted off the island, even though that might
offer a saner, happier life.

Music Robert Downes One of the summer’s largest music festivals takes place this week in
Traverse City, providing a supporting role for the glitz & glamour of the
Film Festival.
That’s because approximately 200 artists making up 78 acts will perform
during festival week at Clinch Park, the Open Space, Lay Park, the film
venues and at festival events and parties.
“It’s really like a Traverse City Music Festival when you think about it,”
says Mike Sullivan, guitarist/vocalist with The Wild Sullys and Song of
the Lakes, who serves as entertainment manager for the Film Fest. “We
musicians provide support for the films, but I like to think of it as a
symbiotic relationship because we support each other.”

Random Thoughts Robert Downes There were a lot of complaints about the heat at the Ride Around Torch
bike tour a week ago, followed by a lot of complaints by the public at
large throughout the next few days.
Most cyclists rode a 63-mile loop around Torch Lake in Antrim County. At
the bayside park in Elk Rapids where the tour wrapped up, many talked
about how tough it was cycling the last few miles of hills in the
90-degree heat, glaring sun and high humidity.
Then we packed up our bikes, climbed into our monster SUVs and
emission-friendly pickup trucks and took off down the highway, no doubt to
crank up the AC at home, doing our bit with the rest of the human race to
pump 90 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every day of
the year.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes What’s New
New in this issue is a Public Safety Map on page 12 which will include a
snapshot of crime in the region -- assault, robbery, B&Es, drug busts and
car thefts -- as well as brief reports on emergency events such as
drownings and major collisions.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes Losing Our Traditions
For more than 20 years now, my wife has marched her little flock of day
care kids downtown to take rides on the pint-sized train at the former
Clinch Park Zoo. Many of the ‘kids’ are now grown and have children of
their own. They too are devotees of the Spirit of Traverse City, carrying
on a tradition that fills a child’s heart with joy and the air with
laughter and the sound of a chugging choo-choo.
But those sounds will cease forever after Labor Day when the old bugaboo
of budget concerns and other priorities kill off the little engine that
could. As noted in an article in this issue by Pat Sullivan, the park
designers ditched the train as being inconvenient when they re-imagined
the bayfront.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes Paying for that Vacation...
Since there will be upwards of 500,000 people in town for the National Cherry Festival this week, this seems a likely time to talk about how to pay for that vacation you‘ve been dreaming of all year.
How can one afford to travel up north for a week of carnival rides, hotels at premium rates, wine tours and dinners by the Bay? Not to mention expensive destinations all over the world?
Easy: save your money.
Okay, that seems like a no-brainer, but most of us have a tough time saving for college tuition or a new car, much less a ‘frivolous’ vacation. The most common complaint I hear from my non-traveling friends is that they “can‘t afford to go anywhere.“
Translation: they failed to plan for one of the most soul-nourishing events you can do for yourself and your family each year.
Those who do bite the bullet and go on vacation anyway often ‘put it on the card,‘ creating an unhappy post-trip experience for the payee, much like when the Christmas credit card bills come rolling in come January.

Books Robert Downes It only takes a few moments to fall under the spell of historian Richard Fidler’s “Gateways to Grand Traverse Past,” a beautifully-envisioned tale of the ups and downs of life dating back 100 years ago and beyond.
A former teacher, this is Fidler’s third book of history, primarily about the Grand Traverse region but in many ways roaming further afield. Here, for instance, are the scores of black hobos who traveled north on the rails in the 1940s, hoping to pick cherries in the region’s orchards, only to be succeeded by imported Jamaican labor and Mexican migrants. Here are tales of circuses which marched in a line of elephants down the muddy streets of Front Street in the 1890s. Fidler lifts history from its dusty grave and breathes life into the past through eloquent writing and intelligent observations full of perception and wonder.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes If you’ve watched any TV at all in recent months you’ve been waterboarded
with a flood of ads lambasting the “Government Bridge” proposed to link
Detroit and Windsor in Canada.
These commercials have all the nuance of a wedding cake sliced with a meat
axe. It’s a wonder they don’t refer to the project as the “Gub’mint
Bridge” for Snuffy Smith types who can’t handle three syllables.
Backing the commercials is billionaire Manuel “Matty” Moroun, an
84-year-old trucking tycoon who owns the Ambassador Bridge which links the
U.S. to Canada. Moroun purchased the Ambassador Bridge 32 years ago and
has owned a monopoly over one of America’s busiest and most important
trade routes ever since.

Features Robert Downes One can only wonder what Elmore Leonard’s laconic heroes and tough-talkin’
villains would have to say about an upcoming ‘Pure Michigan Picnic’ by
West Grand Traverse Bay to kick off the National Cherry Festival this
week.
That might well be a question for the author himself, who will be the
guest of honor at “An Evening with Elmore Leonard and the National Cherry
Festival” this Saturday, July 2 from 6-9 p.m.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes Northern Michigan’s Top Adventures
When most people think of “adventure” in Northern Michigan, they tend to
imagine a weekend with the kids at the beach or an afternoon at one of our
water parks.
A pity, because mile-for-mile, Northern Michigan packs more outdoor
adventures than almost any similar-sized region on earth. Only a few
standouts such as Costa Rica, New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands come
close, and we dare say that the cultural and dining offerings in our many
beach towns help to even that score.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes Saw a huge fox trotting alongside Crystal Lake in Benzie County a
week ago. At first I thought it was a German Shepherd because it
looked to be about four feet long from nose to tail; but drawing
closer, its low stature and rust-red fur revealed it to be a vulpes
vulpes, or red fox, for those of you who no longer speak‘a da Latin.
Anyway, this proud fox was trotting along unconcernedly by the side of
the road with a fresh baby bunny in its jaws, probably heading home to
its den to feed the kits.
Oh how I would love to borrow that fox for a weekend at the Downes
household where we are in the midst of a chipmunk and squirrel
population explosion.

Features Robert Downes Buffy Bimgarden is trading in her hose & high heels for cycle shorts and clip-in pedals on the commute to work this week, while Clyde Clipperhorn is ditching his 4x4 monster truck in order to mountain bike to his construction site.
Okay, Buffy and Clyde don’t actually exist, but they represent the appeal of Smart Commute Week, which urges commuters of every stripe to bicycle, walk, carpool, or take public transportation to work this week, June 6-12.
“Smart Commute Week has been growing every year since it got started 17 years ago and it’s wonderful,” says Lee Maynard, the trail planning and programming director of TART Trails (Traverse Area Recreation Trail).  “Plus, last year, Petoskey and Harbor Springs started their own Smart Commute Week with the Top of Michigan Trails Council, so it’s become a regional event.” 
Smart Commute Week is a nationwide event, but Maynard notes that Northern Michigan celebrates it later in the season for comfort’s sake.  “Other communities celebrate it in May, but because it’s chilly up here, we hold it in June,” she says.

Random Thoughts Robert Downes How We Got Started: 20 Years Before the Masthead
       Simply put, Northern Express Weekly got started with an idea by my friend and co-publisher George Foster in the fall of 1990:  “What would you think of starting a newspaper about sports and fitness?” he asked one day as we were out running.
   Well, hell yes, why not?  In one of those lucky coincidences, we had a synchronicity of talents and experience: George was a certified public accountant, while I had been a reporter and editor in Detroit-area newspapers and a writer for  hospital public relations.  We were deep into the running, triathlon and XC-skiing boom of the ‘80s, and also habitues of the local nightlife scene.
   Both of us had grown  bored with our respective careers as well as the racing scene, so the idea of launching a newspaper was mesmerizing.  That’s what launching a new business is like: it’s a fever that consumes your every waking moment.  Soon, that fever was generating ideas for our new paper.
   We decided that the publication would need a larger scope to succeed; for starters, the region lacked an alternative newspaper similar to Detroit’s Metro Times, devoted to the arts, local issues, nightlife and the “underside” of the community.