Opinion
Way Behind the Curve
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | March 28, 2020
Wars require a coordinated national strategy and a leader who's providing accurate information, encouragement and empathy. We have no such strategy, and no such leader. The first case of COVID-19 we know of was diagnosed on Nov. 17, 2019, in China. They got around to telling the rest of the world on Dec. 31. It was already too late, especially with a world mostly unprepared to deal with what was coming. In ... Read More >>
Sitting on the Dock of Dismay
Guest Opinion
By Isiah Smith | March 28, 2020
If the events of the last several weeks have taught us anything, it is how fragile we are. Not only our physical being but also everything in our world, which exists in a state of uncertainty. Everything can change in a second — a nanosecond, really. The tumult that followed the spread of the Coronavirus should be a warning: We puny humans control very little, and we are now learning that our confidence ... Read More >>
Other Issues
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | March 21, 2020
There are other issues. While we've been out panic shopping — seriously, how many dozen eggs and giant cans of beef stew do we plan on using? — and wishing President Trump would lighten his makeup and step away from the microphone, Lake Michigan has still been creeping up. Lake Michigan-Huron — the hydrologists refer to it as a single entity — has been rising somewhat steadily since historic lows in 2013. And it's ... Read More >>
Winning by Cheating
Guest Opinion
By Amy Kerr Hardin | March 21, 2020
An African American man was refused the right to vote in the 2018 Alabama midterms. Why? Because records indicated he owed money to the state — four dollars, to be precise. Sadly, this is not an anomaly. Thirty states have rules in place that essentially amount to a modern-day poll tax, requiring voters to be paid up on debts before casting a ballot. These laws are intentionally targeted at populations struggling with even ... Read More >>
Do You Want This in the Middle of Our City?
Guest Opinion
By Gary Howe | March 14, 2020
The City of Traverse City and the Boardman River Implementation Team deserve praise for the planned reconstruction of the Union Street Dam. It is the last dam on the docket of a decades-long transformation of the Boardman River. A project dubbed "A River Reborn." And, once replaced, the jewel running through downtown will also be reborn. To date, the success along the Boardman River has been upstream, with the removal of three ... Read More >>
Old White Guy
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | March 14, 2020
Democrats seem to be settling in on Joe Biden, though they've found plenty about which to be exercised. They are especially good at finding coal in a pile of diamonds. Their lament now comes from different quarters — the Bernie Sanders camp wondering what happened to the youth vote while other Democrats of the pessimistic sort bemoan perceived sexism and racism in this year's presidential primaries. What happened to voters in the ... Read More >>
The Spirea Question
Guest Opinion
By Grant Parsons | March 7, 2020
Someday – hopefully – my spirit will be lounging under a spirea hedge in Sunset Park and a dog will sense it and (as dogs do) lift a leg and water it. Before then, of course, there are two metaphysical predicates (me dying, me having a spirit) and a physical predicate (a spirea hedge in Sunset Park.) Alas … the spirea hedge I would lounge beneath eternal is missing. ... Read More >>
Pretty Good Odds
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | March 7, 2020
We are quick to assume the worst and equally quick to panic. The latest example is the novel coronavirus now circling the globe. It requires caution and some preparedness – but not the frenzied response we're now seeing. Ably abetted by attention-seeking politicians and overly dramatic headlines, we've decided the end times are nigh. The stock market, now driven more by crises and fear than anything resembling value, was especially panicky. It ... Read More >>
Focused on Quality
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Feb. 29, 2020
Education has become an actual issue in the Democratic presidential primary, though it's mostly about cost. They should be focused on quality. Newsweek gives it a try and ranks the United States 26th in the world in the quality and efficacy of our education system. Unfortunately, the results were based entirely on the opinions of a large group of educational, business, and community leaders. All subjectivity absent any objectivity. Literacy seems to be ... Read More >>
Problems with Partisan Politics
Guest Opinion
By David Frederick | Feb. 29, 2020
I could not in good conscience be a Republican. There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which is the circumstance that they have been shamefully duplicitous in presenting a false pretense that GOP policies favor any group other than the wealthy. Unfortunately, Republicans are intelligent as well as politically astute. Those assets have enabled their divisive scorched-earth efforts to achieve a regrettable level of success in governing ... Read More >>
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