Columns

More and more I am told I must provide anything of importance digitally. Heck my Facebook feed is crowded with people purportedly able to make my life easier with the new A! Technology. That’s why when it comes to voting…

If you are a fan of Gospel music, you’ll want to mark your calendar for Sunday, August 6. Kline’s Resort will host The Royal Heirs. They will entertain everyone with a variety of Gospel selections with a concert beginning at…

It’s here at last! Marion, Michigan’s Old Fashioned Days weekend has arrived. It’s that one weekend each year that every Marionite by birth or at heart, considers a personal holiday of the highest order. It’s time to celebrate us and…

            Many years ago, I asked what I thought was a rather complicated and difficult question of a Catholic priest.  I don’t remember the question, but I remember the answer.  He simply said, “Jesus is the answer.”  It was so…

By Maggie ConklinMushroom FarmerLast year the dear husband and I were gifted “leftover” shiitake mushroom spoors from a friend in Alabama.It took us a couple days to drive home and we tried our best to keep the spoors cold in…

By Scott SullivanEditorBreathSaw it roll in from the north Tuesday over Kal River; Canada was still burning. Last month wildfire smoke hazing lungs and views was a novelty. The Star of Saugatuck was eclipsing Serenity on the Lake Michigan horizon,…

In mid-July, Traverse City hair salon owner/stylist Christine Geiger drew national attention for posting on social media anyone ID’ing neither man nor woman is not welcome at her business.“If a human identifies as anything other than a man/woman,” she posted…

I’m still re-running a few of my favorite past articles, and I remember getting a lot of laughs from this one from February of this year.Looking around lately, I don’t seem to find many people my age. I’m starting to…

I sometimes stand in wonderment at the inefficiencies and heavy handedness of our federal bureaucracy. As a taxpayer I think the sheer number of federal government employees and their inefficiencies costs us billions a year, and we need to get…

By Maggie ConklinBlooming MeatballsMy friends Ingrid, Liz and I loved watching videos by Ziqi Li, a young woman who lived in northern China with her grandmother and made just about everything from scratch. They had a large garden, she foraged…

By Scott SullivanEditorSnarlThe red truck in the left lane said “Liberty.” Took forever on the construction-constricted freeway to get around it. Relax, let the road flow through you.Picture trucking Liberty cross country, unloading at docks using dollies, forklifts, palettes ……

   Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, and for many of us, the ‘take home lesson’ is about caring for someone in distress.  We know the story: A man was on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho when he was…

Our dad Wild Bill, as the nurses call him, is continuing his stay at the Arbor Springs Rehab Hotel. Of course it’s not supposed to feel anything like a hotel, meaning rehabilitation takes lots of work and NOT being comfortable,…

We tried to cancel but we failed. A movie and a video have been the subject of much controversy for the past few weeks and attempts to cancel them have only fueled the fire to make them more popular.I went…

I expect after Independence Day newspaper columns, TV and social media pundits bemoaning American patriotism is on the slippery slope down. They point out we have lost love for our country. Let’s look more closely.How do you measure patriotism? Ratio of…

by Larry-Michael and Becky Lynn Hackenberg A Weekly Almanac GuidePlan, Do, Finish, Rest.Living in Harmony With EarthWeekend ofJuly 22-23, 2023 Becky’s Earth-Sun-Moon NotesIn A Nutshell…First Quarter/Planning Moon, Tuesday, July 25 at 10:07 p.m. EDT, begins the cycle again. Last week’s…

Nothing tastes better than burgers and dogs cooked on your outdoor grill. Whether you burn charcoal or propane, the meat always seems to taste a little better. Besides, the lady of the house appreciates you messing up the grill instead…

It is almost August and we are more than half way through the year and on the road to autumn. For some it feels like the beginning of the long slide into winter, for others, it is the high point…

            In the scriptures we read that God is Love and that whoever lives in Love lives in God and God lives in them.  If God is love, then Love created the Universe and all that is in it including…

The 12th annual Lumberjack Festival begins today with loads of events, contests and entertainment that will keep you busy right through Saturday afternoon. It is a great time to take a “step back in time and enjoy some of the…