Jillian Manning | Author
Film Review: Sitting in Bars with Cake
Sept. 30, 2023
With a slate of spooky movies headed into theaters over the next few weeks, this scaredy cat searched for a new release that promised no jump scares or exorcisms. I landed on Sitting in Bars with Cake, an Amazon Prime adaptation of…a cookbook memoir.
Yes, that was ...
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Your Guide to Up North Pride Week 2023
Sept. 23, 2023
Up North Pride, a Traverse City-based nonprofit “collective of 2SLGBTQIA+ humans [and] allies looking to build a more inclusive and welcoming northern Michigan,” has made September their new go-to month for their annual Pride Week events. Here’s what’s on the sched...
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The Water Guides: See the Boardman River, Cedar Lake, and Power Island from a New Perspective
July 15, 2023
Skip the magic carpet ride: Local kayak guides can show you the world…or at least the watery part of it. From the urban landscape of downtown Traverse City to quiet inland lakes to an island wilderness, these guided tours show you a slice of northern Michigan you haven’t seen...
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Your Nautical Shopping Guide
July 8, 2023
Ready to get out on the lake? So are we! But as always, we hope to do so in style, so we’ve put together a list of a few retailers across northern Michigan that offer the coolest suits, hats, shoes, and accessories you need for a day on the boat, at the beach, or in the waves.
... Read More >>Keep Showing Up: Up North Pride leaders reflect on June events, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and allyship
June 17, 2023
Nearly 53 years ago, the first Pride march was held in New York City, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. In Traverse City, Up North Pride (UNP) hosted its first Pride march in 2014 and has since grown to offer one of the biggest Pride celebrations in the sta...
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Highs and Lows of the High Season
May 20, 2023
We’re approaching the most wonderful time of the year in northern Michigan. Summer can be downright magical, with quiet morning hikes, afternoons at the beach, and endless entertainment opportunities for a night on the town. But all that fun in the sun also means increased traffic, ...
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Building Blues
April 29, 2023
The construction industry has been on a roller-coaster ride for the past three years, from an all-time low in jobs and projects in spring of 2020; to a flurry of building activity to meet pent-up demand; to frustrating snafus with supply chain issues.
And that’s to say nothi...
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Will Travel for Weed: The Growth of Cannabis Tourism
April 15, 2023
Each year, thousands of visitors flock to northern Michigan for our beaches, our wineries, our trout streams, and our Nordic ski trails…just to name a few.
But are they also coming for our cannabis?
Canna tourism has taken root in states like Colorado, Oregon, and C...
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10 Years of Fascinating People
March 4, 2023
2023 marks the tenth year of the Northern Express Fascinating People list, and as we looked back through the archives, we were blown away by the 180 people we had featured over the years. (Plus 20 more in this issue!)
While we can’t go back and interview each of the...
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The Accidental Novelist
Feb. 25, 2023
You can take the girl out of Interlochen, but you can’t take Interlochen out of the girl.
Perhaps that’s why New York Times bestselling young adult author Brittany Cavallaro set her hugely popular Charlotte Holmes series in a boarding school. Or why Hello ...
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Jan. 28, 2023 Friends. Mentors. Colleagues. Sisters, moms, and cousins. No woman is an island, and this week we’re celebrating the wing women who help us become our best selves at work, at home, and in our communities. We asked several NoMi women in leadership who their wing woman is&mdas...
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Jan. 7, 2023 Here are five words you’ve probably never heard before: “I cannot wait for February.” But so says comedian Mike Geeter, one of the guiding forces behind the 2023 Traverse City Comedy Fest, which comes to stages in downtown TC Feb. 2-4. Geeter and business...
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Jan. 7, 2023 The ache in your lower back that just won’t go away. The unexplained inflammation or skin sensitivity. The chronic illness you’re living with, but only barely. These are a few of the reasons folks seek out alternative therapies after they’ve left the doctor&rsquo...
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Dec. 10, 2022 We all know we can get a good box of wine for everyday occasions, but around the holidays, we feel compelled to step up the game. When you want to give the perfect gift or impress your guests—all while supporting local makers—here’s what we recommend. Nov. 26, 2022 We so often think of art as a solitary pursuit, done in the quiet of a studio with only a paintbrush or a potter’s wheel or a pair of pliers for company. But all artists great and small need community. All need feedback and encouragement and a burst of inspiration. Enter: Th...
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Nov. 19, 2022 In 2020, U.S. nonprofits and charitable organizations saw a record of $466.23 billion in charitable giving, largely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy—an arm of Indiana University—2021 topped the charts again with $484.85...
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Nov. 12, 2022 For those of us in the Millennial through Silent Generation brackets, getting picked on looked a lot different when we were kids. Without the full force of technology and social media, bullying was based on physical acts of aggression and cruel words at school. Once we left the building, ...
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Nov. 5, 2022 According to a 2022 report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America, with 4.8 million players nationwide, up 40 percent from 2020. Northern Michigan is one of the hotspots for the sport, and was in fact one of the very ...
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Oct. 29, 2022 What were you doing in your late twenties? While many of us were hoping to get a promotion, leaving graduate school, or trying to figure out our first life insurance policy, Katie Fahey was quite literally changing the Michigan constitution. Fahey, an Aquinas grad who studied sust...
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Oct. 15, 2022 There’s a special kind of magic involved in finding the furniture and décor for your home. Pieces need to be functional, stylish, comfortable, and ready to stand up to whatever your household throws at them, be it weekly dinner parties or 100-pound dogs. Most importantly, the...
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Wing Women: Beside Every Great Woman Is Another Great Woman
Funny in February
Striking Back Against Chronic Pain
Deck the Halls with Decadent Drinks
SPIRITSRead More >>
A Collective Collage
The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Sticks and Stones...and Cyberbullying
Pickleball Mania Hooks Players of All Ages and Skills in Northern Michigan
Of the People, For the People, By the People
Fab Furnishings