Opinion

Till It's Over, Part 1 & 2

Guest Opinion

By Isiah Smith | Jan. 16, 2021

Whew! Glad that's over. It looks like we have survived the worst! As America's annus horribilis limps to a merciful close, we must resist the impulse to celebrate, assuming the worse is over. While it is true that we somehow managed to avoid a total American apocalypse, we came alarmingly close.  Our pestilential president nearly brought the nation to its knees with his fanatical and incomparable incompetence. However, despite his obsessive-compulsive efforts, ... Read More >>

Dear Trump Supporter

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Jan. 16, 2021

  It is tempting to be sympathetic to your angst since you, like so many before you, have been scammed by Donald Trump. But unlike those taken in by Trump casinos, Trump Air, Trump University, Trump suits, and all the rest, you haven't yet become aware of your own delusions.  Now some of you have become downright dangerous. It's past time you did a little reflection and self-evaluation.  You believed Donald Trump ... Read More >>

Alone

Guest Opinion

By Gary Howe | Jan. 9, 2021

Recently, I've spent a lot of time alone with Alone, the popular survival series available on several streaming services. Indeed, it's enjoyable TV for a long pandemic winter, and by nature, I prefer nonfiction. But I find Alone compulsively binge-worthy because it's an intriguing, ongoing psychological experiment, and because — apparently unintentionally — it's some of the best social commentary on television.  Alone is a reality show without hovering producers and camera crews. Nature stands in ... Read More >>

Baby Steps

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Jan. 9, 2021

It didn't take the ultra-progressive wing of the Democratic Party long before they started carping away at President-elect Joe Biden. His cabinet nominees, so far the most diverse group ever, wasn't diverse enough. Or he wasn't aggressive enough combating the Trumpian nonsense. Or he wasn't sufficiently loyal to their agenda.  They were surely correct on the last point, and Biden has made no secret of that. In fact, he doesn't support most ... Read More >>

Tiny Houses and Big Raises

By Stephen Tuttle | Jan. 2, 2021

Let's start by assuming 2021 will be better. The mysteries of local government, however, will remain the same.      The Traverse City City Commission and their overlords at the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) continue their obsession with eliminating downtown parking and increasing population density in the same area. Their latest foray is multi-family housing with no parking and little single-family homes on little residential lots, all in the elusive quest for affordable housing.  ... Read More >>

Where Do We Go From Here

Guest Opinion

By Tom Gutowski | Jan. 2, 2021

Joe Biden is right to call for unity and healing. But how is that to be accomplished? Just returning to “normal” won’t do it. We’ll all be happier when we have a president who behaves like an adult, but that isn’t sufficient. After all, what used to pass for normal is what produced the deep division we have now. A willingness to compromise is important and even necessary, but by itself, that’s ... Read More >>

The Other 2020

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Dec. 19, 2020

Well, that was an interesting year. And there was more to it than a pandemic we didn't stop and a delusional soon-to-be ex-president who won't accept reality. In fact, 2020 was a pretty eventful year, good and bad, without the election or pandemic.     We didn't much slow down wars. Currently, there are at least 40 such armed conflicts around the world, from South America to Chechnya and plenty of places in between. ... Read More >>

Grand Gestures, Signaling Nothing

Guest Opinion

By Mary Keyes Rogers | Dec. 19, 2020

Who doesn’t like a fresh start?  We set off for new horizons with grand gestures, like a newly committed dieter tossing all the junk food from the pantry into the trash or spending an outrageous amount of money on exercise equipment. Big, bold moves. Thoughts of a new year and a new administration had me giddy for a fresh start in Washington, D.C. Swept up in the possibilities, I thought, What if ... Read More >>

The Best Christmas

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Dec. 12, 2020

Some people believe this will be the worst Christmas ever. There's no doubt this year will finish with significant challenges. But the worst Christmas ever? Probably not worse than the multiple Christmases during the Civil War. And then there was the 1918 pandemic, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II ... we have a long history of challenging Christmases.  We're lucky to have one at all. Boston once outlawed Christmas ... Read More >>

The Year of Possibility

Guest Opinion

By Cathye Williams | Dec. 12, 2020

  If 2020 were a movie, the trailer alone would have most of us heading for the exits. The pandemic brought death, isolation, and financial hardship. The murder of George Floyd et al, brought a reckoning: that our ideals of freedom and justice are only that — and not a lived reality for many. The climate crisis is at critical mass – so many storms, we ran out of names; loss of ... Read More >>