Opinion
Is the SAT a Scam?
Student Guest Opinion
By Quinn De Vecchi | Jan. 10, 2026
Over 100 years ago, in the early 1920s, the military began using the Army Alpha Test: an intelligence evaluation for new recruits to create more competent taskforces that would cost less. In 1923, Carl Brigham, a prominent psychologist and eugenicist from Princeton University, revised the test for it to be used in college admissions. That new exam, called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, became the SAT. Back then, Brigham had created the SAT … Read More >>
Country of the Year?
Guest Opinion
By Isiah Smith, Jr. | Jan. 10, 2026
Every Christmas, The Economist names “The Country of the Year.” The magazine’s choices are not based on the happiest country, because if they were, the choice would always be a dull affair, as a Scandinavian country (hello, my beloved Sweden) would always be chosen as the happiest country in the world. The Economist’s criterion resonates deeply with me. It should resonate with you as well, because understanding what constitutes “the country of … Read More >>
Stops and Starts
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Jan. 10, 2026
Maybe 2026 will bring some changes, things we need to stop doing and things we should start doing. Let’s start with a message for our MAGA friends: Do yourselves a favor and let go of your 2020 delusions. You’ve had five full years to expose the “widespread fraud” you claimed existed, but no such evidence has yet been revealed since there was no such fraud. The 2020 presidential election was the most … Read More >>
Sticks, Stones, and Dangerous Words
Guest Opinion
By Greg Holmes | Jan. 3, 2026
One of the worst sayings that I have ever heard in my life is a simple children’s rhyme that goes like this: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Why is this children’s rhyme so terrible? The saying is completely false. Unless you are a narcissist and/or are in some form of denial, you can quickly recall several times when you have been hurt by what … Read More >>
Assault on the First Amendment
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Jan. 3, 2026
Back in the 1950s, it was Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and his supporters who decided the First Amendment could simply be ignored. He—and his attorney and eventual Donald Trump mentor Roy Cohn—found communists in every part of the government, including the military, and lurking behind every tree and bush. His false accusations ruined careers and lives. Now an echo of those times can be heard coming from the White House. In one … Read More >>
The Winter We Don’t Talk About
Guest Opinion
By Kate Lewis | Dec. 20, 2025
Winter settles in quietly at first. A gray morning here, an early twilight there, the hum of holiday lights blinking on before most of us are ready. And then suddenly, we’re in it, deep in the season of forced cheer. The shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, the smiling. The relentless emotional dance of trying to make everything perfect. The lists that grow longer by the hour. The expectation to feel grateful, joyful, … Read More >>
Christmas Survives Another Year
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Dec. 20, 2025
It’s about that time when a certain president will declare he has once again saved Christmas. Actually, Christmas hasn’t needed saving since the mid-1600s when the Puritans banned it in Boston because it was not mentioned in the Bible. Since then, Christmas has been on a pretty positive run. Christmas was certainly not the first of the winter festivals, long celebrated as daylight began to magically lengthen or as late fall crops … Read More >>
A New Kind of Advent
Student Guest Opinion
By Tess Tarchak-Hiss | Dec. 20, 2025
It’s the gleeful and gay holiday season, which means two things: tooth decay and seasonal depression! While my sister and I grew up gnawing on daily peppermint Hershey’s Kisses and Santa Claus-shaped dark chocolate, we’ve gradually been drawn to alternative advent calendar ideas that aren’t as horrific for circadian consumption. You know, like a really creative pill dispenser, or a Red Bull advent calendar. (Trust me, I’ll definitely feel like I have … Read More >>
Let’s Change Trashy Traditions
Guest Opinion
By Cathye Williams | Dec. 13, 2025
From the last Thursday in November until the ball drops in Times Square, it’s estimated that we Americans create 25 percent more waste than normal—approximately 25 million more tons of garbage. It comes from consumer goods, gift packaging/shipping, food scraps (including over 300 million pounds of Thanksgiving turkey scraps alone), and extra electricity use for all those pretty lights. In short, we give and get too many things that no one needs … Read More >>
Of Airports and Gravel
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Dec. 13, 2025
No doubt the entire Grand Traverse region is popular with visitors and prospective new residents. Additionally, people already here travel more, and some now telework from home but have to zoom off to meetings someplace other than their home office. The result is our little airport just keeps getting busier and busier. Founded in 1929 as Ransom Field on what is now mostly Memorial Gardens off South Airport Road, it moved to … Read More >>
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