Northern Express - May 25, 2020

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20 FASCINATING PEOPLE 2020

< Brittany Adams George Armstrong Goldie Beebe Andrew Farron Cindy Hull Piper Shumar Jennifer Drake Jessica Dennis Harry Goldson Gene Lagerquist Chayse LaJoie Kevin LaRose Mike Long Karl Manke Hiro Miura Bill Siegmund Dick Smith Travis Snyder Francisca Stig-Nielsen Wayne Wissner

NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • may 25 - may 31, 2020 • Vol. 30 No. 21 Photo by Amanda Adams

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2 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

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Whitmer A Tyrant?

Jack Bergman thinks so. In a fundraising communication he recently sent, Bergman said, “I did not fight for this nation for 40 years to come home to be ruled by a tyrant like Gretchen Whitmer.” At least the soldierturned-politician didn’t turn to the hyperbole used by the state GOP brain trust and the mob parading around the Capitol. When they refer to the governor as a tyrant, they frequently label her a Nazi, and sometimes Hitler.

Of course, this raises several questions about Bergman besides his professionalism.

What is his definition of a tyrant? Did he “fight for 40 years” to be ruled by a tyrant like Donald Trump? Or has he not been paying attention to Donald Trump’s behavior for the past three years?

A common definition of a tyrant leader is one who governs cruelly, unjustly, arbitrarily, and oppressively. Tyrants throughout history have typically been individuals who use his/ her power to: seek absolute authority and control, silence critics and a free press, eliminate dissent, and use the power of the state to punish opponents and rivals, disregard and put him/herself above the law, and use the power of his/her position to enrich him/ herself, family, and close associates.

This doesn’t even come close to describing Whitmer, but we’ve witnessed many examples of this behavior from Donald Trump.

Yes, Whitmer has instituted some onerous restrictions in her executive orders. These are temporary measures. And they were put in place to protect the citizens of this state in the face of a deadly pandemic.

Bergman has spent his time in office praising and supporting Donald Trump 100 percent. Not once has he spoken out about Donald Trump’s outrageous behavior. While our governor spent her days trying to do the right thing for our state, Donald Trump spent his time worrying about his popularity, spreading disinformation, lashing out at critics, and blaming others for his failure to lead a credible national response. Maybe during his “40 years of fighting for this nation,” Bergman should have spent some time studying what tyranny and leadership really mean.

Peter Raphael, Maple City

and we must do everything in our power to defeat him.

Joe Biden was not my first choice. But I won’t just be voting for him; I’ll be talking to my neighbors, supporting his campaign, and doing everything possible to make sure he’s our president come January 2021.

I call on others to join me.

Sam Bennett, Traverse City Think About What You’re Endorsing “A man with nothing left to lose is a very dangerous man, and his energy/anger can be focused toward a common/righteous goal.

What I’m asking you to do then, is sit back and be honest with yourself. Do you have kids/ wife? Would you back out at the last minute to care for the family? Are you interested in keeping your firearms for their current/future monetary value, or would you drag that ‘06 through rock, swamp, and cactus to get off the needed shot? In short, I’m not looking for talkers, I’m looking for fighters. And if you are a fed, think twice. Think twice about the Constitution you are supposedly enforcing (isn’t “enforcing freedom” an oxymoron?) and think twice about catching us with our guard down — you will lose just like Degan did — and your family will lose.” [Letter from Timothy McVeigh to Steve Colbern, as quoted in the 2001 book “American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing” by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck.]

So I ask Rep. Jack O’Malley and Senator Curt VanderWall: How comfortable do you feel about jack-booted camo-clad neo-Nazi thugs brandishing assault weapons in the Capitol building? Even in the balcony of the legislative chamber! Are you “cool” with that?

What if they were Black Panthers instead?

Cat got your tongue?

Larry Hauser, Lake Leelanau What’s the Plan, Man? I know what’s best for home protection (a 12–gauge shotgun). And a 30-30 is good for deer hunting. But I’ve never seen anything that tells me what works for germs or a virus.

I want the economy to improve, but the suggestions by many Republicans seem to be that, as a grandparent, I should die for it. That seems a little extreme, but that’s true of most Republican ideas.

They pass a trillion-dollar tax cut for the top 1 percent, and now we must cut Social Security and Medicare to pay for it. Why don’t we ever cut back on aircraft carriers? I have watched tax cuts since Reagan’s “trickle-down theory”: You give tax breaks to the rich, and everyone will gain. Something that has never happen, nor ever will.

These are questions that come to mind when I’m home too long, but what I couldn’t do is spend 14 hours on Twitter — on Mother’s Day, no less — but the fat guy in the White House could and did. A guy who really believes in families, yeah. Again, just asking.

Don Seman, Bellaire

Anybody But Trump “We’ve got to make Trump a one-term president.”—Bernie Sanders It was with that quote that Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden.

And as a strong Bernie supporter, I think it’s important people know I’m voting for Joe Biden this November.

Trump has shown himself to be a threat to our public health and safety throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

He is the worst president in U.S. history,

Some Questions 1. Why would you ever vote for this tyrant who puts profit above the health and wellbeing of the citizens he represents, touts death as collateral damage, and even ignores a dozen warnings in the Presidential Daily Briefings (early January) that the COVID-19 virus was already in this country?

2. Why did Trump withhold CDC guidelines from the states? The watered-down guidelines were only released when the media exposed this administrative action.

3. Trump claims that his action to close the country to China limited the spread of COVID-19; however, when he made that decision mid-January, the virus was already in our country from Europe. Why did Trump ignore the recommendations from Obama’s transition team that the country needed to prepare for a possible outbreak?

4. Why would you consider this narcissistic con man who thinks he knows more about climate change than 100 scientists across the globe and has removed our country from the Paris Climate Accords?

5. How can you trust Trump, who endorses Putin, of Russia, over the three intelligence agencies in our own government? These agencies did conclude that Russia interfered in our 2016 election on Trump’s behalf.

6. Why would you ever vote for Trump, who made the world unsafe by backing out of the Iranian Nuclear Arms Agreement, which allowed Iran to further enrich uranium?

7. How could you begin to trust the integrity of a habitual liar when The Washington Post has recorded over 18,000 of Trump’s lies or distortions to his base and the entire country?

8. When the tyrant Trump is challenged or advised by any of his staff, they are fired, including, recently, four IG watchdogs investigating the administration’s activities.

9. To reelect Trump would be a big mistake.

Turn Michigan blue again.

CONTENTS features Crime and Rescue Map....................................7

20 Fascinating People.....................................10 McGee’s 72..................................................19

columns & stuff Top Ten..........................................................5

Spectator/Stephen Tuttle...................................6 Opinion.............................................................8 Weird................................................................9 Astro.........................................................18 Advice.......................................................20 Crossword..................................................20 Classifieds.................................................22

Ron Dykstra, Beulah Pay Attention, Youth The young and the ambitious should be watching and taking notes.

I see a polarized consensus on an ideal of the greater good that’s divided between the liberal autonomy of rugged individualism and the paternal macro-management of collectivism in an age of progress.

The collective conscience is starved for reconciliation in its wildly inconsistent interpretations of social contract and civic duty, and I see a young demographic for whom these points will merit serious philosophical deliberations.

To say that I’m left with an ominous feeling in light of our collective response to the coronavirus would be the understatement of all understatements. In fact, the absence of universal outrage on grounds of principle alone illustrates to me the problem with America’s special “soft” brand of tyranny. The largely emotion-driven and irrational rhetoric of the collective fearmonger misses the greater point.

No one is questioning the institution of science.

No; the individualist objects to authoritarianism on a fundamental level.

As such, the magnitude of COVID-19 as it relates to public health is immaterial so far as it concerns the merits of coercion in the name of protection from an invisible threat.

What precedent have we set here? Should we not be at liberty to go about our lives and our private capital endeavors free from coercion unless and until we can quantifiably be shown to have directly and demonstrably infringed upon the rights of another specific individual?

Silly, here people are proclaiming their notional support for sweeping authoritarian measures, and they’re doing it by citing a collective interest — all the while we’re dealing with a nation in which the very essence of the agreed-upon social contract values first and foremost rugged individualism as the collective interest.

Call me a stubborn idealist, but was not this nation itself born of stubborn idealism?

Cover photo by Amanda Adams Northern Express Weekly is published by Eyes Only Media, LLC. Publisher: Luke Haase 135 W. State St. Traverse City, MI 49684 Phone: (231) 947-8787 Fax: 947-2425 email: info@northernexpress.com www.northernexpress.com Executive Editor: Lynda Twardowski Wheatley Finance & Distribution Manager: Brian Crouch Sales: Kathleen Johnson, Lisa Gillespie, Kaitlyn Nance, Michele Young, Randy Sills, Todd Norris, Jill Hayes For ad sales in Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Boyne & Charlevoix, call (231) 838-6948 Creative Director: Kyra Poehlman Distribution: Dave Anderson, Dave Courtad Kimberly Sills, Randy Sills, Roger Racine Matt Ritter, Gary Twardowski Listings Editor: Jamie Kauffold Reporter: Patrick Sullivan Contributors: Amy Alkon, Rob Brezsny, Ross Boissoneau, Anna Faller, Jennifer Hodges, Craig Manning, Jillian Manning, Clark Miller, Al Parker, Michael Phillips, Steve Tuttle, Copyright 2020, all rights reserved. Distribution: 36,000 copies at 600+ locations weekly. Northern Express Weekly is free of charge, but no person may take more than one copy of each weekly issue without written permission of Northern Express Weekly. Reproduction of all content without permission of the publisher is prohibited.

Derek W. Meyer, Traverse City

Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 3

this week’s

top ten Northern Michigan’s Jeopardy! star Cadillac resident Ben Scripps went on a winning streak on the game show Jeopardy!, winning in his first two appearances. Unfortunately, the third appearance wasn’t a charm; Scripps ultimately lost to competitor Nathan Berger, of Portland, Maine, after making a big bet on what would turn out to be an incorrect answer to a Daily Double.

The 9&10 television director appeared on the show May 18 and got off to a quick start, beating the buzzer on the first three questions, answering them correctly, and jumping out to an early lead. Then he fell behind, ending the first round in third place.

Scripps eventually came back to win the game in Final Jeopardy. When he returned the next day, host Alex Trebek said of the champion: “He was up and down more often than a yo-yo.” Scripps went on to win that game, too.

“Being on Jeopardy! was literally a life-long dream; when I was a kid in the Grand Rapids area, the whole family would be in front of the TV at 7:30 to watch, and I knew right from the start I wanted to be on the show, even if I was only 11 at the time,” Scripps told Northern Express in an email. “The whole thing is still a little surreal to me, but it was also the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”

2 tastemaker

Ali Ababwa’s Lamb Gyro and Chicken Shawarma Plates

In an age where just about everything’s gone virtual, The Kitchen (1249 Woodmere Ave., Traverse City) has still managed to surprise us. It just launched a new virtual takeout/delivery restaurant, Ali Ababwa. From the taste of the Middle Eastern-inspired food’s robust dusts of sumac, za’atar, and harissa, your tongue might tell you these dishes had emerged from a tent in Tunisia, but in fact, they’re simply the latest tasty, healthy twist coming out of the The Kitchen’s always-inventive, well … kitchen. We took a mini-tour of the Mediterranean on our first try, choosing the Chicken Shawarma Plate (chicken with onion, tomato, pickle, and feta on warm naan, with a side of garlic sauce, potato wedges, and mixed vegetables for) and the Gyro Plate (real gyro lamb with onion, tomato and feta on warm naan, also with a side of garlic sauce, potato wedges, and mixed vegetable). Each are only $13 but big, zesty, and filling in the most flavorful comfort-food kind of way. They’re also available for takeout or delivery through your new best socially distant friend, the “tcfood delivers” app, which links you to The Kitchen’s sister eateries, Firefly, Bubba’s, and the alsonew Lil Wangs. Find menus and the app at www.tcfood.com. Current hours for The Kitchen are 11am to 7pm Mondays through Saturday (closed Memorial Day).

4 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

Good News: Annual Car Cruise is Ready to Roll (in Real Life!)

Congratulations, northern Michiganders — we’ve flattened one curve, and now we’ve got the green light to corner a bunch of them. The annual Accelerate the Cure — a car-enthusiast cruise hosted by the Northern Michigan Alzheimers Association — is on, and you can join. Some rules and details will be finalized later to reflect the social distancing recommendations in place at the time, but what we do know is this: At 9am Saturday June 20, participants will begin a majestic drive through northern Michigan, offering drive-by honks and hellos while coasting by assisted living centers, and making a few safe and scenic pitstops along the way. See www.acceleratethecurealz.com to register ($100 per car for two people) or donate.

4

Hey, watch it!

PROP CULTURE

One of the most powerful tools in a filmmaker’s toolbox are the craftsmen and technicians who painstakingly bring worlds to life through the magic of props. And with the takeover of digital technologies, it is this somewhat dying art of practical props and effects that is explored in the delightful behind-the-scenes journey of Disney+’s Prop Culture. Amiably hosted by noted collector Dan Lanigan, the show takes us inside some of the most iconic films of all-time — including Mary Poppins, The Muppet Movie, and more. Sometimes hunting down what happened to the original pieces of Hollywood history, other times recreating props from what remains, he gets the backstories straight from the filmmakers, creators, and stars (including a rare interview with the notoriously out-of-thespotlight Rick Moranis — spoiler: he looks great!). The show will give you a new appreciation for not only some of your favorite films but also the wonders of moviemaking.

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High Water gets m-22 in deep

In a sign of what’s likely to come this summer as water levels rise in the Great Lakes, a section of M-22 between Elberta and Frankfort was partially closed by the Michigan Department of Transportation after heavy rain raised the level of Betsie Lake and flooded part of the highway.

The road was reduced to one lane May 18 with traffic controlled by a temporary signal.

MDOT also announced that it is not known how long the partial closure might last and that if water rises further, the road could be closed entirely with traffic detoured.

In a press release, MDOT said, “In recent months, water levels on Betsie Lake have risen to the point where they have reached the M-22 roadway edge. With the latest rain event, they have risen to the point where the outer portion of each driving lane has been covered, leaving only the center of the road safe for traffic.”

Q-Tip: Don’t Screw it Up After a swift and stern April closure in reaction to too many visitors congregating too closely on trails and in other areas, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is cracking open its sublime slice of the great outdoors once again. On Friday, May 22, the lakeshore, following guidance of federal, state and local authorities, opened all of its park hiking trails, the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, the Dune Climb, as well as its picnic and parking areas, boat launches, and, perhaps most importantly, vault toilets.

Assuming an influx of Memorial Day weekend visitors doesn’t send us back to square one by time you read this, we recommend A) slipping in on weekdays at low-traffic times, solo or with just a few friends or family members who are willing to follow the 6-foot social-distance guidelines and other safe practices the CDC recommends, and B) downloading the new, free app NPS Sleeping Bear Dunes, which puts in the palm of your (freshly washed) hand a visitors’ guide with a detailed offline map, the latest information on lakeshore access and events, and more.

Stuff we love A Winning Children’s Book Relevant to the Heather Shumaker, northern Michigan mom and author of renegade rule-making parenting books “It’s OK Not to Share” and “It’s OK to Go Up the Slide” just won a 12-state award from the Chicago-based Society of Midland Authors for her debut novel, “The Griffins of Castle Cary.” Aimed at kids ages 8–12, the adventure-filled tale follows the three Griffin children as they set out, along with their Newfoundland dog, to solve a spooky mystery in the English countryside Mendip Manor — and save the youngest sister from a grieving ghost.

Spookier yet, if you ask us, the 2019-published pages are a bit prescient with what Shumaker calls “some pandemic tie-ins” that seem particularly timely right now: fear of dying, conflicts between believers and non-believers, and how recognizing that we are all in this together is a critical step in keeping the vulnerable among us safe.

Find “The Griffins of Castle Cary” at local bookstores or www.heathershumaker.com.

8 If you have a kitchen, get in here!

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bottoms up Roast & Toast’s cold-brew whiskey sour Sometimes it seems as if Roast & Toast Cafe started roasting and brewing mighty fine coffee inside its quirky concrete-and-coffee-mug-emblazoned walls well before coffee culture was even cool. In fact, May 19 marked 27 years for the venerable Petoskey shop. A lot has changed since Mary and Bob Keedy opened its door in 1993. They’ve taken on a third partner, Ben Walker; boast a pair of SCA-trainer roasters, Mariah Becker and Hillary Davis; and have wholly embraced and infused their extensive food and drink menu with the flavors of more than a dozen local farms and spice-, soda-, and beer-makers that have come on the scene since. Their dedication to great coffee, however, hasn’t budged a bean. Because coffee begins to lose flavor after two weeks, Mary Keedy says the shop never sells or brew coffee that’s more than two weeks old. And while that’s reason enough for us to celebrate, we feel 27 years of great coffee deserves a lil something more. Happily, so does Hillary Davis, who shared her recipe for an anniversary-appropriate R&T cold-brew whiskey sour: 1 ounce simple syrup (i.e., 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water, boiled and cooled), 2 ounces fresh cold brew coffee, the juice of half a lemon, and 2 ounces of whiskey poured into a shaker over ice and shook until the shaker is frosty. To serve, pour liquid over fresh ice in your favorite rocks glass and enjoy. Find food, drinks, and, of course, house-roasted whole-bean and ground coffee at Roast and Toast Cafe, 309 Lake St. Open 8am–4pm daily for pick-up, curbside delivery, and limited dine-in. (231) 347-7767, www.roastandtoast.com

Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 5

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Traverse City’s City Commission and Downtown Development Authority (DDA) recently floated two ideas, and they’re batting .500.

The suggestion to close two blocks of Front Street to vehicle traffic is a good one. If the long-term objective is to keep vehicles out of downtown Traverse City, a legitimate objective, this would be an excellent time to test the idea. Especially since closing those two blocks of Front Street to vehicle traffic is absolutely the only way to keep traffic off those two blocks of Front Street.

6 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

There are some issues here.

So the plan is to give our land to private developers so we can then help pay for them to build something and make a profit so we can also pay people to live there.

There will be logistical and parking issues, not to mention some grumbling and confusion, but everyone will adapt.

This strategy has been used frequently and successfully elsewhere. Boston, New York, Montreal, San Francisco, Seattle, Ann Arbor, and other cities have converted downtown streets to pedestrian-only plazas. Paris chose a different path — actually narrowing streets flowing into their central city to discourage motorists. Seattle is now considering converting another 20 miles of streets to pedestrian and bicycle-only paths.

To be sure, all of those locations have significant advantages. They’re large urban areas with robust regional transportation systems, so their residents have ample mass transit options. Our Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) does a good job but lacks both the funding and ridership to expand much.

The rural nature of our area means we simply don’t have the critical mass of potential riders to justify a significant regional system. Nor do we have enough people willing to abandon their vehicles for the day.

Still, closing Front Street from Park to Union — just two blocks — is appealing. It puts the ridiculous summer traffic congestion elsewhere and replaces it with pedestrian congestion, a much better opportunity for downtown businesses. With some additional benches or other public seating, it should keep people downtown longer.

If it becomes permanent, which seems at least possible, the city should also consider closing Cass north of State Street as part of the pedestrian-only zone. It would result in a large, car-free area feeding directly to and from the farmers market, as well as the underpass to Clinch Park, the marina, the Open Space, and all things waterfront. Good place for a civic park, too.

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The suggestion was to give away cityowned surface parking property to developers in exchange for the creation of workforce housing. They say it’s for the “missing middle,” residents who work in town, have a steady income but can’t afford to live downtown. Which would be just about everybody. So when they talk about workforce housing, they actually mean belowmarket-rate housing.

However, among the other ideas being batted around by the City Commission is one that involves another stab at what they keep calling “workforce housing.” It’s a cute name without much real meaning, and one of their ideas to facilitate this dream sounded more than a little bit off-kilter.

The property being discussed isn’t part of some private land trust. It’s public property used and wholly funded by city taxpayers and those who park in those lots. It’s not at all clear that it can be given away to private developers who will then require additional taxpayer money — brownfield funds, tax increment financing (TIF), and payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) all involve spending taxpayer dollars or diverting them — to build whatever they will build, and likely taxpayer subsidies for the renters, too.

So the plan is to give our land to private developers so we can then help pay for them to build something and make a profit so we can also pay people to live there.

Then there’s the issue of who’s going to occupy these buildings.

The folks talking about this like to use the phrase workforce housing because they hope, and would like us to believe, people working downtown will get these below-market-rate apartments. There just isn’t any way to assure that will happen.

The city cannot require such properties only rent or lease to someone working downtown because it runs afoul of all manner of fair-housing rules. If they are technically low-income units, there are other — financial, not geographic — requirements that come into play. Maybe people who work downtown will qualify, but maybe every unit will end up being occupied by someone who doesn’t.

Closing part of Front Street is a good idea both short and long term. This is the perfect time for a test run.

So-called affordable housing or workforce housing downtown should be called what it actually would be; heavily subsidized housing involving taxpayer money at every step of the process. Affordable housing efforts should look outside of downtown. And while we’re looking elsewhere, maybe we should change focus to find some solutions for why so many downtown employees with steady incomes are paid so poorly that they need below-market-rate housing.

Crime & Rescue BUILDING COLLAPSE INJURES FOUR

The collapse of a building under construction in Traverse City injured four workers, one of them seriously.

The accident occurred at 9am May 19 at the site of the new four-story Honor Bank development at 415 East Front St. Traverse City Fire Department Chief Jim Tuller said emergency personnel were called to the scene in response to a collapsed building. Four workers were injured in the accident, including one who was buried in debris up to his waist and suffered significant lower-body injuries.

Worried that a second part of the structure could collapse, rescuers removed four workers from the scene within 10 minutes and took them to Munson Medical Center.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. Front Street between Boardman and Wellington was closed for the day.

MAN ACCUSED OF ACCOSTING GIRL A Petoskey man was charged with attempting to have relations with a 13-yearold girl.

Leelanau County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a home on East Meadowbrook Drive in Elmwood Township May 15 at 1:22am for a residential breakin.

A father heard noises coming from his daughter’s room and looked outside to see someone’s foot dangling from the deck of the house near his daughter’s window. Once spotted, the suspect fled on foot.

Deputies arrived and located a vehicle that did not belong to the homeowners and soon found the 21-year-old suspect and arrested him.

Investigators determined that the suspect and the girl had been in contact on the internet and that the suspect was at the home to pick up the girl “for questionable purposes,” deputies said.

Tristin Coveyou was later arraigned on one count of accosting, enticing, or soliciting a child for immoral purposes, a 10-year felony.

by patrick sullivan psullivan@northernexpress.com

Detectives zeroed in on a suspect and announced May 20 that they had arrested 49-yearold Adrian Ryanen Swain, of Muskegon, on charges of safe breaking, breaking and entering and being an habitual offender.

Det. Capt. Randy Fewless said Swain is a suspect in similar cases across western Michigan.

MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING FATHER A 51-year-old Petoskey man faces open murder charges in the death of his father.

Joel Andrew Wheatley was also charged

by Emmet County prosecutors with identity theft, unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle and felony firearm.

Officers from the Petoskey Department of Public Safety and the Michigan State Police Crime lab were called to a home on Arlington Avenue May 12 after a man was discovered in the home, beaten to death.

Investigators said Wheatley apparently became enraged when his father, who had come up from Royal Oak, took away his liquor. According to the charges, after killing his father, Wheatley allegedly used his father’s credit card to purchase more.

MAN KILLED IN ATV CRASH Crawford County Sheriff’s deputies investigated a fatal ATV crash that involved alcohol use and excessive speed.

Deputies were called May 17 to North Higgins Lake Drive in Beaver Creek Township.

A 31-year-old man from Saginaw died from injuries sustained, and another downstate man was airlifted to Munson Medical Center in Traverse City.

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DEPUTIES ARREST BREAK-IN SUSPECT Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a man whom they said broke into an H&R Block office and stole $1,100 in cash.

Deputies responded to the office near Chums Corners in February after employees arrived to find that someone had entered and busted open a safe.

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Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 7

A MEMORIAL DAY REVISITED opinion OPENING MONDAY MAY 18

BY David Fredericki Memorial Day was established as a day of solemn remembrance to honor all those who have died serving in the American armed forces.

In 1953, Memorial Day was celebrated on Saturday, May 30. That was also the day that I, as a 10-year-old child, began a process of learning some things about We the People not taught in schools. Things I observed that day, although not at the time fully understood, were nevertheless remembered.

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The place was Grand Ledge, Michigan, a small farming community located 11 miles west of Lansing. It was a good place to grow up. A strong sense of community existed there, as it likely did in many rural areas. Its manner of observing Memorial Day was probably not unique. However, it is doubtful if anything very much like it occurs today.

A core part of the day’s events was a parade.

To a 10-year-old observer, it seemed that almost everyone in the community was either in the parade or standing along its route.

Farm kids riding horses led the way with flags unfurled. They were followed by the high school’s marching band, uniformed in blue and gold. A local National Guard artillery unit also marched. Their uniforms were complimented by polished helmets, and rifles on their shoulders.

Members of the Future Farmers of America, wearing their bright blue jackets, participated, as did Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4-H members. Following this was the bicycle brigade, composed of dozens of preteen kids.

Their bikes were decorated with red, white, and blue crepe paper.

The parade lined up in front of the public library on Jefferson Street. That was an appropriate place to start. A memorial had been placed there, which listed the names of all the local men who had served in World War II. Those who had been killed in action were further acknowledged by having a gold star alongside their name.

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8 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

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The parade proceeded only a few blocks before it came to a stop on the bridge crossing the Grand River. Words heard over a scratchy public address system were difficult to understand. An honor guard of American Legionnaires stood at attention overlooking the river. In response to shouted orders they simultaneously raised, aimed, and fired rifles as a salute to the fallen. A prayer was said as a wreath honoring fallen sailors and marines was dropped into the river. Tears could be seen on the faces of some adults — and it wasn’t just the ladies. I had never seen anything like that and didn’t know what to make of it.

At that point several Air National Guard single-engine DeHavilland Beaver aircraft came roaring down the course of the river in single file and made a low pass over the bridge. Their speed seemed breathtaking, and the roar of their radial engines made the ground feel as though it was shaking. Four passes from four different directions were made before the aircrafts turned away and

disappeared. Their presence was to honor fallen airmen.

Prior to the parade resuming its march toward Oakwood Cemetery, the band performed “Anchors Aweigh” and the “Marine’s Hymn.”

Sadness created a resounding silence. Apart from a powerful voice command to forward march, and the beat of drums marking the cadence, there was only silence.

Today I occasionally remind myself that it was a different time, and the adults were of a somewhat different breed. Perhaps those who struggled through the Great Depression and carried the nation through World War II really were our Greatest Generation.

Many of those who had lined the parade route followed it to the cemetery. It was less than a mile away. There were probably a few hundred people there. The band played several pieces — including both the Army and the National anthems — a choir of women sang patriotic songs, pastors prayed, and speeches were made. Most of the speeches seemed lengthy and were not well understood by preteen bicyclists. But one speech was understood by even that group: the reading of the names of the men who would never come home.

It was accompanied by the tolling of a bell reminding all of that terrible finality. Tears for the brave became more prevalent.

The 1953 Memorial Day remembrance concluded as several howitzers were simultaneously fired time and again in honor of the fallen, the blasts’ ghostly echoes faintly returning from the river valley.

For the bicycle brigade, it was a good day.

There was a measure of excitement and fun.

But by day’s end, there was also the beginnings of an understanding of shared grief, as well as the recognition that a horrible price is often paid by those protecting our country.

That some children began to acquire a small measure of that understanding made May 30, 1953, a day to be remembered by them.

The era described in this letter is long past. It is unlikely to be repeated. What citizens such as you and I can do to honor the fallen, and maintain a memory of their collective sacrifice, is to double and triple down on protecting the democratic republic created by our forefathers and protected by the brave, both living and dead.

Today our country is threatened, and while it will continue to exist in one form or another, its Constitution and foundation on democracy may not. In the absence of a functional government of, by, and for the people, the duty falls to us to protect our nation from all enemies both foreign and domestic. Today the greater threat almost certainly comes from within.

David Frederick, a centrist-based Independent, regards extremist political partisanship as a dangerous threat to the wellbeing and security of middle-class Americans.

He further believes reestablishing coordinated grassroots truth-to-power messaging is a prerequisite for diminishing that threat. dcf13343@gmail.com

Sign of the Times In South America, some families of people who have died of COVID-19 have had to wait days for a coffin, either because of the short supply or they were unable to afford one, the Associated Press reported on May 8. In response, ABC Displays, a Colombian advertising company, has developed a cardboard hospital bed with metal railings that can be converted into a coffin. The beds can hold a weight of 330 pounds and will cost about $85 each, company manager Rodolfo Gomez said. He plans to donate 10 beds and hopes to receive orders for more from emergency clinics that might run short on beds.

Not Men From Outer Space People in Washington’s Puget Sound were startled on the evening of May 6 by a brilliant streak of light across the sky followed three minutes later by a loud explosion. “Huge boom that shook the house. It was the loudest boom I’ve ever heard,” one witness in Brier reported, according to KOMO. The American Meteor Society investigated the many reports it fielded and determined the noise came from an exploding meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere.

The meteor may have been part of the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which occurs when Earth moves through the remnants of Halley’s comet.

Bright Ideas Restaurants have adapted to local lockdowns with curbside and drivethru services, so it’s no surprise that other businesses are following suit. Minx Gentlemen’s Club in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is offering drive-thru pole dances and other entertainment in a makeshift outdoor space, according to The Sun. Dancers were showered with bills or grabbed their tips using a trash picker to reach into vehicles as patrons enjoyed the performances from the safety of their cars. Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Little Darlings is offering completely nude drive-up strip teases. “Guests can drive up to the front door, and we’re going to have dancers separated by the 6-foot separation rule, and (customers) can enjoy a totally nude show right from the seat of their car,” a Little Darlings spokesperson told KSNV.

ad. At trial, Meiwes told the court he had always dreamed of having a younger brother “to be a part of me” and thought cannibalism would be a way to satisfy that obsession. Two officers accompany Meiwes on his outings, reports the Daily Mail, and he is described by his keepers as a “friendly, outgoing, polite” prisoner who is helpful to others, attends church services and works in the prison laundry.

Questionable Judgment Curtis L. Fish, 48, arrested and charged with kidnapping and raping a woman on New Year’s Day in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was released when the COVID-19 crisis erupted in jails, according to PennLive.com. On May 12, police responding to reports that Fish tried to break into the Crossroads Tavern in Hilltown Township attempted to Taser Fish, but he fled to his home nearby, where he set off and aimed fireworks at a SWAT team before his house suddenly caught fire. “Fireworks outside and fireworks inside,” said tavern owner Mike Mrozinski. “So I believe that’s what lit the house on fire.” A body thought to be Fish was found inside. Mrozinski said Fish, whom he had known for 16 years, was “not the same guy I had known him to be” before the rape charges.

Joseph Todd Kowalczyk, 20, tweeted at the FBI on May 10, threatening that he had “10 bombs ready to go off ... in my basement ... come get me you guys have till 8 before I make this city in my own little hell #forwaco.”

The FBI determined the tweet came from a mobile home park in Clinton Township, Michigan, according to The Detroit News, and officers showed up at Kowalczyk’s home the next day, where he explained that he was “testing the government” and was upset that they had not responded more promptly. He told agents he had no weapons and would not make any more threatening tweets, but as the day wore on, Kowalczyk taunted the FBI in further posts, disparaging the agency and police for their slow response. On May 12, he was arrested and charged with transmitting a threat to injure, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Recent Alarming Headline In Clocolan, Free State Province, South Africa, where the now-seven-week-long lockdown includes a ban on buying or selling alcoholic beverages, thieves broke into the Rest in Peace funeral parlor and made off with four gallons of exhumation liquid, the Daily Mail reported on May 12.

The fluid, used to preserve body parts that have been exhumed, is 97% alcohol, police spokesperson Brigadier Motansi Makhele said, and the burglars had to break through roller blinds and into a locked steel cabinet to get to the liquid. A forensic officer predicted: “If the thieves drink that liquid without watering it right down, then they will drop dead themselves!”

Paying the Price Restaurants in West Plains, Missouri, endured a social media storm in early May after a customer posted a photo of a receipt that included a “Covid 19 Surcharge.” But the restaurants pushed back, according to KY3. “It’s not a tax. It’s basically just a small percentage to cover all of our extra expenses,” said Bootleggers BBQ owner Brian Staack. Kiko Japanese Steakhouse manager Sarah Sherwood said prices on most items have doubled, and Ozark Cafe co-owner Heather Hughes confirmed: “Every day there’s something else (food suppliers) can’t get or the prices have gone up exorbitantly.” The restaurateurs say it’s easier to add the 5% surcharge than constantly change the menus, and they’ve been upfront with customers, using signs and notes in their menus. While the initial response was surprise, Sherwood says the community has “really come together to support the local businesses.”

Inexplicable In 2006, Armin Meiwes, now 58, was convicted of killing, dismembering and slowly eating Bernd Brandes, 43, over a number of months in Rotenburg, Germany, but today, the man who advertised himself as a “friendly and polite” cannibal, goes for “walks around town” with a police escort and wearing sunglasses and a cap to disguise himself. Meiwes had advertised in 2001 on a website called The Cannibal Cafe for “a well-built 18- to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed,” and Brandes answered the

Florida A Mother’s Day bouquet became a weapon during an altercation in Pinellas County, Florida, early on May 11. Sandra Kay Webb, 32, allegedly became angry with her husband because he bought flowers for her children to give her for Mother’s Day. The Smoking Gun reported that Webb threw the bouquet at her husband and hit him with it, then spit on him. Webb was charged with domestic battery; she admitted throwing the flowers, but denied the spitting.

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Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 9

20 FASCINATING

PEOPLE Every year, Northern Express reporters scour the North to find 20 average folks dedicating themselves to a not-so-average existence — people who parlay their passions into something bigger than themselves. Here, our picks for the unsung but undoubtedly fascinating people that reporters Patrick Sullivan, Ross Boissoneau, Craig Manning, Al Parker and Clark Miller found for 2020:

Wayne Richard “Dick” Smith

Living History

Dick Smith cultivated his interest in northern Michigan history the old-fashioned way: He lived it.

“I was born in Petoskey, and my greatgrandfather Sam Horton was one of the earliest settlers in this area,” Smith said of his ancestor, who sailed into Lake Charlevoix in 1856 with 13 children in tow. “So, I’m related to half of northern Michigan. I don’t even know who my relatives are.”

Smith, who was born in 1934, lived

One in the group had served time at Camp Pellston, so they decided to try to burn it down. Their plans were thwarted at the last minute, Smith said, but then they managed to break out of jail in Petoskey. They were captured and sent off to a more secure jail in Sault Ste. Marie.

“That was the only one that could probably hold them at the time,” he said.

Today, Smith and his wife live on 60 acres north of Harbor Springs. He said he’s thinking about writing his memoirs.

“I keep thinking I’m going to do it,” he said. “And I probably better pretty soon.”

Michael Long A Weapon for Mini-People’s Education

Cindy Hull Intrepid Mystery Writer There have been many hassles and hardships during the state’s stay-athome orders, but for Traverse City resident and author Cindy Hull, there has been one upside: She’s had a lot of time to write.

That doesn’t make up for the time she couldn’t spend with her grandchildren, of course, but for Hull, who released her first mystery novel, “Human Sacrifice,” last November, it’s something.

“I was planning on doing more book singing,” she said. “I’m not sure when I’ll get back to doing that kind of promotion.”

Hull, who in 2012 retired as head of the anthropology department at Grand Valley State University after a long career spent working in many far-flung lands, set “Human Sacrifice” in a place she knows well: Mayan ruins in Yucatan, Mexico, where a murder puts a group of university faculty under suspicion. Much like quarantine, her second book, which features some of the same characters, takes place somewhat closer to home: an over-55 community in Florida.

Hull’s writing career came about after she looked into taking a writing class at Interlochen. As it turned out, the only one that fit her schedule was her favorite genre to read, mystery writing.

That class, taught by local author Aaron Stander, helped her work out how to devise the mechanics of a plot, story arc,

through the Depression and World War II, and attended University of Michigan Law School. In his late 20s, he became the prosecutor for Emmet County. He would later become district court judge, and after that, Petoskey’s city attorney.

It was as prosecutor that Smith played a role in one of the most notorious cases in the area’s history. He presided over the initial investigation into the murder of six members of the Robison family in Good Hart in 1968.

There was another notorious case — one that’s gone largely forgotten — when a group of criminals from downstate came north while on the lam for an armed robbery.

and character details that could unfold to propel a mystery forward.

Asked whether she’s planning on a third book, perhaps one set in Traverse City, she said, “I don’t know whether I’ve got that one in me or not.”

10 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

Once upon a time, Michael Long spent a school term aboard a fleet ballistic missile submarine — a “weapon of mass destruction,” in his words. Today, he holds a much different job title: executive director for the Great Lakes Children’s Museum in Traverse City.

The road to get from point A to point B is as fascinating as you might expect. Long graduated from the United States Naval Academy in the late 1970s with a degree in mechanical engineering and enrolled in Nuclear Power School, where he got his training aboard a nuclear submarine. The training convinced Long of one thing: The Navy wasn’t the right place for him. His search for a different career led him to jobs in technical writing, IT, and customer support. Eventually, he found his passion: working with nonprofits that serve kids.

Long served his first nonprofit executive director role in Eagle River, Wisconsin, after helping a group write a business plan and secure funding for a then-brandnew children’s museum. That path would eventually lead him to Traverse City and its Great Lakes Children’s Museum, where Long has been at the helm since 2014. When he took over, the museum was in dire straits. By the beginning of 2020, he’d doubled the budget, quadrupled the donor base, and brought the museum to a new point of stability. Now, he’s guiding the organization through its biggest challenge yet: COVID-19. Just as you’d expect from a guy who spent time on the deck of a nuclear sub, though, Long isn’t backing down.

“This crisis has taken every ounce that I have and every trick that I can think of to make sure that we can make things continue to go,” Long said. “But we’re going to figure out how to make sure the Children’s Museum can be around for an indefinite period of time.”

20 FASCINATING PEOPLE

Wayne Wissner The Magical Grandpa Piper Shumar Giver of Bikes

Nine-year-old Piper Shumar was at the annual Iceman Cometh Challenge mountain bike race a couple of years ago and had some time to kill while her dad was out on the trail. She noticed a lot of empties lying around. She decided to collect some of them so she could buy herself a winter bike helmet.

She collected so many cans after the race that she earned around $100.

Her dad, George, suggested that instead of a helmet, she use the money for Bikes for Tikes, a program like Toys for Tots but with bikes. The family was already involved with the charity, helping to assemble donated bikes.

Collecting returnables and turning them into bikes soon became a habit.

“It was super fun, and then I just wanted a bunch of kids to have as much fun as I

did when I was on my bike,” she said. “After that, we started collecting more cans, and it just got really big.”

Last Christmas, Piper collected enough cans that she was able to donate 130 bikes.

“It just became word of mouth, and then Timber Ridge said they would put a drop box out there, and all the campers started donating, and it just went on from there,” George Shumar said.

The fourth grader said she has no plans to retire from her new-found hobby.

“I don’t know when I’ll stop, but I’ll probably keep going,” Piper said.

An avid bike rider, Piper has raced in the Slush Cup and Snow Cone races at Iceman, and she plans to continue on with the sport.

“I like having fun and seeing what different skills I can learn,” she said.

To learn more about the project and how to donate, visit “Project Piper” on Facebook.

Wayne Wissner spent a career as a professional magician in Michigan and later at a theme park in Kentucky where he worked for two decades.

In retirement, Wissner returned to his Michigan roots, settling in Bear Lake with his wife.

Their grandchildren have come to visit each summer and, upon finding Grandpa’s magic equipment stored in the pole barn out back, they had questions — lots of them.

“They were all fairly young, and we have a big pole barn out here, and there was one illusion, ‘the mummy case illusion,’ which was just standing in the corner,” Wissner said.

He showed them the trick — turning a mummy into a person — and from that moment on, the kids were hooked.

They began practicing, formed their own magic troupe, and soon set their sights on performing.

“They wanted to do something for people to come, [where] they could give money to charity,” Wissner said. So he built them a stage, and the kids invited the neighbors, charging a dollar per person or a food donation to attend, and put on a show. The money went to the local library; the food to the food bank.

The next year, the kids staged a full production, complete with help from a sound person, a lighting person, and stagehands, at the Ramsdell Center for the Arts in Manistee. They gave those profits to the teen center in Manistee.

As for this summer, the kids — Michael, 13, Aria, 11, Lennon, 10, Anthony, 10, and Oscar, 8 — might have had some magical foresight. Long before the pandemic hit, they had agreed that, as much as they love performing, they were ready to take a break, Wissner said. “It’s so much work that we just said, Let’s take a summer off and do one next summer.”

Audiences, we’re betting, will reappear.

Francisca Stig-Nielsen Born Above the Borscht Francisca Stig-Nielsen has a story to tell.

Thing is, she probably won’t remember much about it. Her coming into the world was an event not only for her family but also for patrons at the Cabbage Shed in Elberta. That’s because her parents, Frederik Stig-Nielsen and Betsy Mas, had decided they wanted to have their baby at home — and that home just happens to be an apartment above the popular Elberta restaurant and tavern. “It has good juju,” said Mas of the apartment.

The couple met in law school in Portland, Oregon, but decided after graduation they didn’t want to join the rat race. After a short stint in the

Peace Corps, the husband and wife relocated to their favorite vacation spot in northern Michigan. They were soon regulars at the Cabbage Shed’s open mic night, and eventually, both began working at the eatery too. When they heard the apartment upstairs was going to become vacant, they jumped at it. “The space is unique, with beams, high ceilings, a view of Betsie Bay,” said Mas. They just hadn’t counted on the place being busy when Mas went into labor. As it lacks air conditioning, the windows were wide open on that steamy July day. “We surprised the patrons.

We know several we found out had been here” during the birth, said Stig-Nielsen. Today, mom, dad and baby Frankie are all doing well. And in a twist, both Mas and Stig-Nielsen are back to practicing law.

Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 11

20 FASCINATING PEOPLE

Kevin LaRose Late-night Soloist Interlochen Center for the Arts is quieter now than it’s ever been, which might actually work in Kevin LaRose’s favor.

A safety officer who works the midnight shift at Interlochen, LaRose is also a talented multi-instrumentalist who’s developed a unique way to keep himself awake and alert while patrolling the vacant campus: He slips into the Dendrinos Chapel, Corson Auditorium, or other unused indoor spaces around 3 o’clock in the morning, hits record on his phone, and performs a brief piece of music on trombone. Or cello. Maybe saxophone, or recorder, or kalimba. Even theremin. Pretty much any instrument within reach. Then he’ll post it to his Youtube channel. “I spend half my shift out of the office. Most nights there’s nothing to do,” LaRose said.

After graduating from Michigan State University, the Interlochen Arts Academy graduate found his way back to the arts campus, first as a safety officer for Interlochen Arts Camp, then in a year-round capacity. These days, he’s down to three nights a week, but he’s still able to accompany himself as he plays Europe’s “The Final Countdown” on electric kazoo. Or “Someone To Watch Over Me,” on valve trombone. And Chuck Mangione’s “Feels So Good” on alto horn.

“I’ve been doing it since I got a loop pedal,” LaRose said, which allows him to double-track himself on various instruments in real time. He still plays as a freelance musician with other ensembles and was a regular presence at the jazz jam sessions at the Workshop Brewing Company. But until things open up again, he’s providing his unique jazz, pop and classical highlights online, courtesy of his nocturnal musical meanderings.

Brittany Adams Scaling Up When Brittany Adams graduated from high school in 2013, she couldn’t quite face the prospect of moving away from home for four years of college.

“I had a really bad issue with social anxiety, and I just couldn’t bear going away, even though I had this great scholarship to a school in Florida,” she said. “I was so excited to go, but I really just couldn’t at the time.”

Suddenly left searching for a career much sooner than she’d anticipated needing one, Adams stumbled into the world of cosplay, a performance art where participants design and wear costumes to either play well-known characters or create their own. She started experimenting with costuming and launched her own YouTube channel, all about cosplay.

Then one day, she discovered her passion in the pages of a magazine her dad had brought home. The article was about “professional mermaids,” cosplayers who wore silicone mermaid tails and made their living performing at festivals, birthday parties, and other events.

While Adams says she was always “a dragons and monsters sort of girl” in her previous cosplay, she couldn’t get the mermaid idea out of her head.

Eventually, Adams gave herself over to the inspiration. She bought a mermaid tail, perfected her own mermaid cosplay, gave herself the name “Mermaid Phantom,” pivoted her YouTube channel to mermaid-related content, and began swimming and performing as a mermaid all around Michigan.

There have been challenges along the way: Adams is legally blind when she’s not wearing glasses or contacts, and since she can’t wear either during most performances – particularly those in water – she largely performs without being able to see. Nevertheless, Mermaid Phantom has built a substantial following (doing business as “The Magic Crafter”) that ranges from event hires to Etsy merchandise and beyond. Last year, Adams took her mermaid act all the way to Singapore, for the Asia Dive Expo.

The highlight of the work? For Adams, it’s the sense of wonder in kids’ eyes when they meet here. “Kids always ask if I know Ariel,” she said.

12 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

20 FASCINATING PEOPLE Gene Lagerquist Speaker for the Trees Retired logger Gene Lagerquist admits his idea is a big one. But he’s undeterred, saying if you’re going to make a dent, you need to think big. The president of the Spirit of the Woods Conservation Club wants to plant 1 million trees within the next five years, to be distributed among Mason, Manistee, Benzie, and Leelanau Counties. “It’s not a cureall, but it’s something the poorest and youngest can do,” he said. He acknowledges the cost will be steep.

“It’s a big project,” he said. So he is looking to approach foundations and get grant money, but first, he said, he’s trying to involve paper mills, sawmills, and other groups he sees as vested partners. “They made a profit the past 200 years,” Lagerquist said.

While members of the conservation club are part of the effort, it is not an official activity of the group. Lagerquist has involved like-minded people from Carbon-Free Manistee and Citizens Climate Lobby as well as the conservation club and others.

“Earth is suffering a death of 1,000 cuts,” he said.

Given the current circumstances, it’s not clear when these activities can resume. The plan was to begin planting trees on Earth Day, April 22. “We worked with local nurseries. We had a kickoff planned for Earth Day, then the virus hit.” He is now working to further organize efforts, including creating a taxfree organization. Interested in helping? Contact Lagerquist at bobcatgene@outlook.com.

Hiro Miura X Marks the Spot

Goldie Beebe Most Valuable Chef The best public-school chef in the country is right here in northern Michigan.

Goldie Beebe has been chef manager for Cadillac Schools since 2012. Last fall, she garnered thousands of votes in a nationwide contest to earn the title of “Chef of the Year” from Chartwells K12.

The award sent Beebe on two separate trips — the first to Orlando to accept the award, the second to Washington, D.C. to tour (and, for a few hours, work in) the restaurants of renowned chef José Andrés. She even got her face on a box of Wheaties!

While Beebe loved those experiences and is flattered by the Chartwells K12 award, she’s most proud that students, parents, and community members in Cadillac saw fit to cast approximately 3,400 votes in her favor. She’s worked over the past eight years to phase out much of the processed food that tends to get served in school cafeterias.

Thanks to Beebe, each Cadillac school has a fresh fruit and vegetable bar in the cafeteria. At Cadillac High School, there’s even a “menu-tainment” station, where chefs prepare food to order right in front of students.

“My thing is to give the best quality you can,” Beebe said. “It doesn’t make any difference whether you’re cooking at a school or a restaurant. You should have the best quality food that you can provide.”

Have you ever happened upon a bottle of wine chilling beneath the surface of Grand Traverse Bay? If so, it was probably put there by Hiro Miura, tasting room manager at Chateau Grand Traverse. Several years ago, as a joke among coworkers, Miura started stashing bottles of Chateau Grand Traverse vino in an ersatz wine cellar deep beneath the waves. The challenge?

Getting the wines from the surface to the seafloor without diving equipment.

Miura, in addition to being a wine fan and a purveyor of great customer service and hospitality, has been freediving for years. He’s stowed many a wine underwater; a good handful of them have gone missing, which means someone’s been reaping the benefits of the unusual hobby.

For now, Miura says that hobby is on hold. Freediving is risky, and it’s a risk he’s not taking in the middle of a global pandemic. Instead, he’s been focusing most of his energy on planning and preparing for Chateau Grand Traverse’s reopening — something we suspect he’ll be willing to celebrate above sea level.

Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 13

20 FASCINATING PEOPLE

Chayse LaJoie The Grappler The COVID-19 virus crushed the schedules of many high school sports, but wrestling was one of the few to finish its season. And one of the top wrestlers in northern Michigan was Gaylord Blue Devils senior Chayse LaJoie.

Already a two-time state champion with a career mark of 189 wins and only 7 losses, LaJoie has trained in both Sweden and at the Olympic Training Center at Northern Michigan University. He was a virtual lock to win a third crown in the 135 or 140-pound weight classes.

But the 18-year-old wanted to challenge himself and bulked up to the 145-pound class to take on another great grappler, Lowell’s Austin Boone. Eventually they met, and Boone was victorious by one-point, but LaJoie walked away with a sense of accomplishment.

“I accepted there was a great chance I wouldn’t win the state title,” he told reporters after the match. “But I think my character improved taking on this challenge. I think it’s a great lesson to learn that you can take on your giant and lose, and still be a better person because of it.”

The LaJoie family is at the center of a wrestling dynasty in Gaylord. Dad Jerry LaJoie coaches the Blue Devils varsity squad, and his sons Dominic and Chayse, have helped lift the program to new heights.

Chayse will face another challenge when he joins Dom on the highly touted wrestling squad at Cornell University. The Big Red team will enter the 2020-21 academic year as the No. 2-ranked team on the FloWrestling Preseason Team Tournament rankings.

“I’m really looking forward to Cornell,” said Chayse. “I enjoyed my visit there, staying with my brother, and it’s really a beautiful campus. They have a really great team and some really good kids coming in.”

The humble and ever-determined Chayse LaJoie, of course, being one of them.

Harry Goldson Jazz Man Harry Goldson grew up playing music, performing on saxophone and clarinet with big bands. When he got drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he thought he’d be able to continue playing in the Army band. No such luck.

“I ended up in the signal corps,” he said. “I went into cryptology. I liked it. It changed my outlook.” So much so that when he got out of the Army, he put down his horns and went back to school, then got a degree in accounting.

“I found it fascinating. I went into banking as an auditor.”

He and his wife, Piper, initially made their home in Chicago, though after visiting family in Traverse City, the two bought a condominium in Suttons Bay. They commuted back and forth until deciding to move Up North permanently. They opened an art gallery, and Piper, herself a pianist, bought Harry a new clarinet so they could play duos.

Word got around, and soon Harry found himself playing with Encore Society of Music, with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, and at various functions and concerts in this area as well as elsewhere in the state and nation (some of which can be found on his website at HarryGoldson.com).

He and Piper established the Suttons Bay Jazz Festival, which ran for many years, and he recorded several CDs — one of which made its way to space on board the shuttle Endeavor in 2008 Now 91, Goldson still plays, but with the coronavirus precluding live performances, his music is temporarily grounded: “I was planning to do a concert, but I doubt there will be any this year.”

14 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

Jessica Dennis Heartache Helper Jessica Dennis’s business — making attractive rings, necklaces and other jewelry — isn’t altogether uncommon, but it’s her specialized niche that sets her apart, one that unfortunately started with a tragedy.

After her seven-year-old son Payton died from brain cancer in 2017, Dennis incorporated some of his cremains into a piece for herself. “I felt I needed him with me,” she said.

At first, she only shared the results with family. “I didn’t know if it would seem weird or creepy. I didn’t plan to have any business [from it], she said. But when family members wanted their own such jewelry, she began to share the idea and results with others. The enthusiastic response prompted her to offer the specialized pieces on her online shops (Etsy and jessica-dennis-designs.myshopify.com).

Today, the majority of her jewelry business — about 80 percent, she estimates — comes from the rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, keychains, and other pieces into which she incorporates the ashes and hair of customers’ loved ones. (She also offers jewelry incorporating breast milk, which she said takes a little longer, as she has to dehydrate the milk and mix with resin.)

No matter what treasured item she receives, Dennis works quickly to get it back — tucked safely inside one of her designs — into the hands of the sender, even when business is brisk. “I get five to 30 packages every day with ashes, hair, even fur [from pets],” she said. “I typically ship within two weeks of receiving the ashes.”

20 FASCINATING PEOPLE Andrew Farron The Accidental Mountain Man Ski hills have shaped Andrew Farron’s life, so it’s only fitting that he would stumble into managing one. Farron was born and raised in Traverse City. He grew up in the Slabtown neighborhood, just a stone’s throw from Hickory Hills Ski Area, and spent “pretty much six days a week at Hickory” throughout his childhood, first on skis and then eventually on a snowboard.

“That’s where the passion began,” Farron said.

It wasn’t the end of the story, either. After graduating from Traverse City West Senior High in 2009, Farron headed to Ann Arbor to study mechanical engineering. He joined up with the campus “Snowboard Club,” where he met both his wife and the friend who would serve as Best Man at their wedding. Then, after graduation, he headed the U.P. and made a home in Marquette.

Soon, Farron learned about Marquette Mountain, a small threechairlift ski hill within the Marquette city limits that was falling into disrepair. The chairlifts regularly broke down, electrical issues plagued every facet of the operation, and the snowmaking technology wasn’t working. Farron, whose engineering specialty lies in pumping and piping, approached the owner and made a pitch: hire me as general manager and I’ll start by fixing your snowmaking system.

It worked. At 27 years of age, with no previous experience managing ski hills or hospitality properties of any kind, Farron became the general manager of Marquette Mountain. He’s since helped spearhead what he calls a “rebirth” at the recreation area, fixing the ski hill’s mechanical problems and pointing it toward a future as more of a “fourseason community hub.” Across the board, Farron sees the potential to make Marquette Mountain precisely the kind of outdoor recreation destination he would have loved as kid. It’s just that now, instead of being the kid who spends six days a week riding the toe ropes, Farron gets to be the man in charge.

Bill Siegmund Going with the Flow

Travis Snyder Walking with Purpose U.S. Marine Travis Snyder was living in Manistee last year when a good friend whom he’d served with in Afghanistan took his own life. Suicide is a serious problem among combat veterans, and Snyder wanted to call attention to it.

He decided to walk around Lake Michigan.

He would publicize and chronicle his progress on social media, and he would ask people to make donations to the Mission 22 Organization, a nonprofit whose name denotes the average number of veteran suicides that occur each day.

Snyder started and finished in Manistee, taking just 42 days to walk the 800 miles around the lake.

Snyder started off in late August 2019, heading north from his hometown and making stops in Copemish, Traverse City, and Petoskey, among other places. He timed it so that he arrived in Mackinaw City the day before Labor Day and he was able to walk across the bridge among the throngs the next day.

Snyder said he’d mostly stayed with friends up to that point, but once he’d reached the U.P., his adventure began.

“To me, that’s when the trip started, because I didn’t know anybody at all. I didn’t know where I was going to sleep and eat, and I also didn’t have cell service for those eight days,” he said.

It nonetheless always worked out.

Folks offered him places to stay or sometimes even gave him money for a motel.

Finding a safe spot to sleep was sometimes easier than the walk itself.

Somewhere between St. Ignace and Brevort, Synder learned too late about bridge work and a resulting detour that would take him 43 miles out of his way, a devastating hiccup. A state police trooper saw him on US-2, asked where he was headed, and told him that if he kept going, he could reach the bridge before it officially closed later that day.

Snyder said he walked for miles through fog and drizzle and crashing waves on a completely empty highway.

“It was one of the most peaceful, serene moments of my life, being on that road,” he said.

Snyder plans more solitary walking trips to raise money for his cause. Next up: a 22-mile walk from Holland to Grand Haven and back on May 30. You can follow his progress and learn where to make donations by searching “Veteran Suicide Awareness: Travis Hikes” on Facebook.

As a kid, Bill Siegmund would spin a globe and think to himself, Wherever it stops is where I’ll travel someday. Then he grew up and made it all come true.

At 15, Siegmund became the youngest member of the Grand Rapids musician’s union. He played professionally — drums, with several bands — in high school and college. While attending the Grand Rapids’ Thomas Jefferson College, he earned a degree in ethnomusicology (the study of other cultures’ music) and added to his repertoire the veena, an Indian instrument with, of all things, a beeswax fretboard.

After college, Siegmund made good on his ambition to see the world.

Armed with a backpack and a fist full of traveler’s checks, he flew to South Africa. There he met up with wellestablished British ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey, who was recording that country’s tribal music. Following that, he hitchhiked the length of Africa, from Cape Town to Cairo, a perilous adventure through several war-torn countries. His wanderlust still unsated, he continued on through Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan — then over the treacherous Khyber Pass into India, where he devoted six months to practicing classical Indian music, meditation, and Bikram yoga.

When Siegmund finally returned home to Michigan, he was asked to summarize what he had learned on his travels — with a one-word description.

He thought on it. Then the right word dawned on him.

“Four experiences on the trip almost cost me my life, and they were all water-related,” he said. “So I said ‘water.’”

And with that simple statement, Siegmund found an entirely new calling.

He immersed himself in water purification techniques and in 1978 founded Traverse City-based Pure Water Works, a company devoted to “changing the quality of life with quality water.” Over the last four decades, Siegmund’s company has pioneered new standards and developments in the water industry and served clients around the world — music, you might say, to all cultures’ ears.

Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 15

20 FASCINATING PEOPLE

Jennifer Drake Michigan’s First Female Hunting Guide If you think it’d be difficult to become the state’s first female hunting guide, to immerse yourself in a world synonymous with masculinity and steeped in male tradition, you would be right.

Drake, a single mother with two kids, one of whom is autistic, found herself nonetheless led by her passion for the outdoors to launch her own guide business, Drake Guiding Services, LLC, in 2016.

Since then, Drake said she’s taken clients onto state land for hunts, only to have jealous male guides attempt to thwart her work, standing in her way or making a commotion to interfere.

“I’ve had other guides that would harass me quite a bit,” she said. “The DNR, they’d try to handle it as best as they can, but unfortunately, on state land, there’s no law that says they can’t do that.”

In addition to being the rare female in a male-dominated industry, Drake is fivefoot-two-inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds, so when she actually gets out into the woods and starts deploying her expertise, she said her clients usually don’t know what to make of her at first.

“Once the clients are with me, they realize that I have pretty good skills,” she said.

“They might wonder until they get out in the field with me. But then they are just amazed.”

Drake, who lives in Afton, near Indian River, said her love of hunting started as a child, when her dad would take her trapping through northern Michigan’s forests.

“I just loved it. I loved being out in the woods and all that stuff.”

Her first career was at a horse ranch, a strenuous job that she loved but ended when she suffered serious injuries after a horse fell on her.

Drake specializes in elk hunts but hunts all year-round and finds coyote to be especially satisfying prey, because the state’s coyote population is too large.

She takes conservation very seriously, and said she is careful never to overhunt a particular area.

“I’ve always been kind of an animal person,” Drake said. “I absolutely love critters, and I spent most of my time in the woods as a child.”

George Armstrong An Extra-special Special Education Teacher Maybe it’s one of those things where you don’t know what you’re good at until you try. Or perhaps it’s the pressure of not wanting to let others down. Either way, when a young special education teacher in Petoskey took on an assignment to raise funds for a camp just for kids with dis-

16 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

Karl Manke The Reluctant Rabble-Rouser You might have seen Karl Manke’s name in the news recently. That’s because the 77-yearold Owosso-based author and barber has ignited a national controversy by reopening his barbershop in defiance of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s statewide stay-at-home order.

But long before he had become an unlikely symbol in the movement to reopen Michigan’s economy, Manke was a northern Michigan boy enraptured by the state’s fascinating and oftforgotten history.

Born and raised in Frankfort, Manke still has a place Up North and finds his way back regularly — particularly for book signings at Traverse City’s Horizon Books but also in the narratives of his books themselves. One of his novels, titled “The Scourge of Captain Seavey,” tells the true story of Dan Seavey, a pirate who sailed the Great Lakes in the early 1900s — and for whom Manke’s grandfather claimed to have served as cabin boy. Parts of the novel take place in turn-of-the-century Traverse City.

Right now, Manke has two big things on his mind. The first is his latest novel, “Hope from Heaven,” which is being adapted into a film by the Lansing-based studio Collective Development Incorporated. The second is his business, the Karl Manke Barber Shop, which he reopened May 4, after six week of state-mandated closure. His decision sparked a battle with state officials: the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs yanked Manke’s license to cut hair, and he’s received both a misdemeanor citation and a cease-and-desist order. But after weeks of lost income and insufficient relief from the government, Manke saw no choice but to get back to business.

“This kind of belligerent act is not my forte,” he said. “It’s just not something that I feel comfortable doing. But I felt like I had to do it. We were supposed to go back May 1, and even then, we were barely hanging on. But then [Whitmer] dropped the bombshell and said, ‘No, it’s going to be another 28 days.’ And I just couldn’t do that. I’m an independent businessperson, and I had to go back to work. So I went back to work.”

abilities, he gave it his all. Spirit Day Camp debuted in 1984, in large part due to the efforts of George Armstrong.

Now, 36 years later, Armstrong is ready to hand off the work to the next generation.

At least some of it. “It’s my last year at Petoskey High School, [but] I still plan to solicit funds,” he said. Challenge Mountain’s Spirit Day Camp is a summer day camp designed for individuals living with disabilities to enjoy recreational and leisure activities, just as Challenge Mountain itself was established to provide recreational opportunities for those with disabilities. For all his

efforts, Armstrong was recognized by the Michigan Council for Exceptional Children as the 2019 Special Education Teacher of the Year.

Due to the coronavirus, 2020 will be the first year since 1984 the camp hasn’t been held, but thanks to what seems to be a contagious Armstrong can-do attitude, “We will still do some virtual things my wife has planned,” he said. Linda Armstrong is the Challenge Mountain program director. “I dragged her in to be a counselor,” he said with a laugh.

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FOOD & DRINK SPECIALS

(May 21-June 20): I’ve got a message for you, courtesy of poet Lisel Mueller. I think her wisdom can help you thrive in the coming weeks. She writes, “The past pushed away, the future left unimagined, for the sake of the glorious, difficult, passionate present.” Of course, it’s always helpful for us to liberate ourselves from the oppressive thoughts of what once was in the past and what might be in the future. But it’ll be especially valuable for you to claim that superpower in the coming weeks. To the degree that you do, the present will be more glorious and passionate and not so difficult.

I am, let me never forget to distinguish want from need,” vows author Barbara Kingsolver. “Let me be a good animal,” she adds. That would be a stirring prayer to keep simmering at the forefront of your awareness in the next six weeks. According to my understanding of the astrological omens, you’ll be getting clear signals about the differences between your wants and needs. You will also discover effective strategies about how to satisfy them both in the post-pandemic world, and fine intuitions about which one to prioritize at any particular time.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Writing some Chinese characters can be quite demanding.

To make “biáng,” for example, which is used in the name for a certain kind of noodle, you must draw 58 separate strokes. This is a good metaphor for exactly what you should avoid in the coming weeks: spending too much time and devoting too much thought and getting wrapped up in too much complexity about trivial matters.

Your focus should instead be on simple, bold approaches that encourage you to be crisp and decisive.

come from his instrument, it’s neither sleek nor elegant. It’s bruised with multiple stains and has a jagged gash near its sound hole. Some Tauruses want their useful things to be fine and beautiful, but not Willie. Having said that, I wonder if maybe he will finally change guitars sometime soon. For you Bulls, the coming months will be time to consider trading in an old horse for a new one.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): When Lewis

Carroll’s fictional heroine Alice visits the exotic underground realm known as Wonderland, she encounters two odd men named Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The latter tells her, “You know very well you’re not real.” He’s implying that Alice is merely a character in the dream of a man who’s sleeping nearby. This upsets her. “I am real!” she protests, and breaks into tears.

Tweedledum presses on, insisting she’s just a phantom. Alice summons her courageous wisdom and thinks to herself, “I know they’re talking nonsense, and it’s foolish to cry about it.”

I suspect you Cancerians may have to deal with people and influences that give you messages akin to those of Tweedledum.

If that happens, be like Alice.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “The less you fear, the

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Singersongwriter Jill Scott is strongly committed to her creative process. She tells us, “I was once making a burger for myself at my boyfriend’s house and a lyric started pouring out and I had to catch it, so I ran to another room to write it down, but then the kitchen caught fire.

His cabinets were charred, and he was furious. But it was worth it for a song.” My perspective: Scott’s level of devotion to the muse is too intense for my tastes. Personally, I would have taken the burger off the stove before fleeing the scene to record my good idea. What about you, Aquarius? According to my analysis, you’re in a phase when creative ideas should flow even better than usual. Pay close attention. Be prepared to capture as much of that potentially lifealtering stuff as possible.

PISCES (Feb 19-March 20): To protect ourselves and others from the pandemic, most of us have been spending more time than usual at home—often engaged in what amounts to enforced relaxation. For some of us, that has been a problem. But I’m going to propose that it will be the opposite of a problem for you in the next three weeks. In my astrological opinion, your words to live by will be this counsel from author and philosopher Mike Dooley: “What if it was your downtime, your lounging-in-bed-too-long time, that made possible your greatest achievements? Would they still make you feel guilty? Or would you allow yourself to enjoy them?”

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “The best of my

nature reveals itself in play, and play is sacred,” wrote the feisty Aries author Karen Blixen, who sometimes used the pen name Isak Dinesen. The attitude described in that statement helps illuminate the meaning of another one of her famous quotations: “I do not think that I could ever really love a woman who had not, at one time or another, been up on a broomstick.” In my interpretation of this humorous remark, Blixen referred to the fact that she had a strong preference for witchy women with rascally magical ways. I bring this to your attention, Aries, because I’m inviting you to cultivate a Blixen-like streak of sacred play and sly magic in the coming days.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus music

18 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

BY ROB BREZSNY

GEMINI

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) “Wherever

Trivia nite • 7-9pm

MAY 25 - MAY 31

legend Willie Nelson has played the same guitar since 1969. He calls it “my horse,” and named it after Trigger, a famous horse in Hollywood films. Although Nelson still loves the tones that

more power you will have,” says the rapper known as 50 Cent. I agree with him. If you can dissolve even, say, 25 percent of your fear, your ability to do what you want will rise significantly, as will your influence and clout. But here’s the major riddle: How exactly can you dissolve your fear? My answers to that question would require far more room than I have in this horoscope. But here’s the really good news, Leo: In the coming weeks, you will naturally have an abundance of good insights about to dissolve your own fear.

Trust what your intuition tells you. And be receptive to clues that serendipity brings you.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): For his film

Parasite, Virgo filmmaker Bong Joon-ho received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

In his natal horoscope, Joon-ho has Pluto conjunct his sun in Virgo, and during the time Parasite began to score major success, Saturn and Pluto were making a favorable transit to that powerful point in his chart.

I’m expecting the next six months to be a time when you can make significant progress toward your own version of a Joonho style achievement. In what part of your life is that most likely to happen? Focus on it. Feed it. Love it.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to my

analysis of the astrological omens, the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to seek out, seduce, and attract luck. To inspire you in this holy task, I’ll provide a prayer written by Hoodoo conjurer Stephanie Rose Bird: “O sweet luck, I call your name. Luck with force and power to make change, walk with me and talk through me. With your help, all that can and should be will be!” If there are further invocations you’d like to add to hers, Libra, please do. The best way to ensure that good fortune will stream into your life is to have fun as you draw it to you.

ScORPIO

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio comedian John Cleese does solo work, but many of his successful films, albums, stage shows, and TV programs have arisen from joining forces with other comedians. “When you collaborate with someone else on something creative,” he testifies, “you get to places that you would never get to on your own.” I propose you make this your temporary motto, Scorpio. Whatever line of work or play you’re in, the coming weeks will offer opportunities to start getting involved in sterling synergies and symbioses. To overcome the potential limitations of social distancing, make creative use of Zoom and other online video conferencing.

McGee’s 72 Traverse City’s East-side Eats

By Jillian Manning When John McGee and Glen Harrington met while working at Apache Trout Grill, they had no idea a friendship would one day turn into a multirestaurant partnership. Today, the duo owns and operates McGee’s 72, McGee’s 37, Harrington’s by the Bay, Sorellina, Slate, and Grand Traverse Bagel & Bakery.

Opening McGee’s 72 was the cornerstone of a plan to have eateries across Traverse City: east side, west side, and downtown. The restaurant is located in the building formerly occupied, circa 2000s, by the heavily Italian-influenced TraVino Traverse Bar & Grille. However, the building’s history is even a bit more personal for McGee, as it used to be Grand Traverse Resort and Spa’s golf center.

“I was a golf professional for nearly 19 years,” he says. “I came full circle because I had worked in the building in the late 1980s, back when it was a [golf] cart barn. It’s fun to now own the building, but in a million years I never thought that would be the case.”

When McGee and Harrington first took an interest in the building, it was in foreclosure, and it took 14 months for the duo to finalize the purchase, with extensive renovations to follow.

The restaurant officially opened in 2014.

Today, McGee’s 72 still caters to both golfers and longtime TraVino diners, but it’s become a local hotspot for the east-side crowd. McGee says that the bar is perennially popular, whether that’s for a group of fans gather to catch the game, postwork socializing, or a casual dinner for couples or friends. Their all-day happy hour strategy, McGee

acknowledges, is a significant part of the draw.

“Instead of happy hour, we have a happy life,” he said. “If we’re open, we do happy hour pricing and specials throughout the day and evening.”

The food, of course, keeps customers returning. Favorite bar-side appetizers include the risotto “tots” — fried pasta-and-cheese balls of goodness — and boneless wings with your choice of sriracha lime glaze or mango chipotle BBQ. The happy hour menu also includes special pricing on beer, wine, and well drinks, as well as McGee’s signature Happy Hour Sangria.

For dinner, guests find an array of options, from the prime rib on Friday and Saturday nights to flatbread pizzas to smoked Gouda chicken pasta with bacon, asparagus, and portobella mushrooms. Seafood reigns among the entrees, with classic Great Lakes walleye alongside Ahi tuna and cioppino. And some of the lunchtime favorites — the “Express Lunch: Pick Two” is not to be missed — are present as well, like McGee’s ever-popular Baja Chicken Tacos and the San Marzano Tomato Bisque.

Influences from McGee and Harrington’s other restaurants make a welcome appearance too. The La Sorellina salad (baby spinach, candied pecans, gorgonzola, pear, and citrus vinaigrette) is a big hit, and McGee also points to Harrington’s custom ground steak burgers as another top item.

“We cut all our steaks in house,” he said. “All the trimmings go into a grind, with some chuck added to it, to create a burger that stands above the rest.”

That attention to detail is an important element of McGee’s culinary philosophy. He says nearly everything in the restaurant is made from scratch.

“It’s a labor-intensive prep, but the quality

Blue Cheese Crusted Burger, with bacon.

The popular Baja Chhicken Tacos.

shows through, and that’s why we continue to do it in that fashion.”

Like so many others, McGee’s 72 menu saw few changes under COVID-19 restrictions. Most items were still available, including to-go beer and wine, but the biggest — and best received — change happened when McGee’s 72 began offering a buy-one, get-one-free offer on all of its offered meals, all day long.

“We made that decision right from the get-go,” he said, and the reason was a no-brainer: “We want to stay as busy as we can to keep the staff employed, but while doing that, help out the community because people aren’t going to work, and some of them aren’t making the money they used to.”

The generosity that they sent around seems to have come around. When asked what good had come out of the shutdown for their properties, McGee had several stories to tell.

“The community has come out in great support. I was just at Harrington’s earlier today, and a gentleman whose daughter works at the hospital ordered lunch for 35 people. Great Lakes Wine and Spirits has bought gift cards for their staff. We have organizations that have bought gift cards for first responders.

“A lot of people are coming together to give back to the community, to the people on the front lines, and they’re helping restaurants along the way.”

Now that some of the state’s restrictions on restaurants have lifted, McGee’s 72 will offer a “buy one, get one half-off ” offer while staff develops plans for dine-in service at a later date. In the meantime, pickup is still available at the restaurant (4341 M-72 E, in Williamsburg. Call (231) 421-8800 to order; the menu is available at www.mcgees72.com

Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 19

the ADViCE GOddESS Smells Like Quarantine Spirit

Q

“Jonesin” Crosswords "Books I Didn't Finish" it's OK, you get the idea. by Matt Jones

ACROSS 1 Raised-eyebrow remarks 4 From Bangkok 8 Loud two-year-old, maybe 14 Kabuki relative 15 Fair share, between two 16 Baltimore player 17 Start of a best-selling 2003 Mark Haddon title 20 Remote button 21 Meas. for really fast rotations 22 Band supposedly doing their final concert in 2021 23 Pellets found in some old pocket puzzles 24 Catches 26 100 centesimi, once 29 Sargasso, for one 30 Scandinavian native properly called S·mi 33 Start of a time-traveling Mark Twain title 38 Like the Beatles 39 Some time ___ 40 Colin, to Tom Hanks 41 Wildebeest 42 Start of a Fannie Flagg title (the movie title being shorter than the book) 46 New Age vocalist from County Donegal 47 Chicago trains 48 Closed facilities (work out at home!)

49 Run off to get married (wait, how would that work these days?)

51 “On the Road” narrator Paradise 53 See 12-Down 56 Aries symbol 57 December garnish 61 Start of a classic 1972 Judith Viorst kids’ book title 64 1998 Olympics city in Japan 65 Japanese seaweed 66 Metal container?

67 Wallace’s canine sidekick 68 Big thick book 69 It gets caked on DOWN 1 Where “I’m not a doctor” spokespeople usually “play one”

2 Hostess snack cake 3 “Falling Up” poet Silverstein 4 Part of a “hang loose” sign 5 Long-eared hoppers 6 Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Century (1999) 7 Befuddled comment 8 ___ nova 9 “Entourage” agent Gold 10 Shares a secret with, maybe 11 Focal points 12 53-Across students 13 Tasting party options 18 Like the mojito’s origin 19 Lifts 25 Actress Emily 26 “___-A-Lympics” (1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon) 27 Words of support 28 One of the Bee Gees 29 Paper packaged with a board game, perhaps 31 Variety of owl, hippo, or seahorse 32 Airline that went bankrupt in 1991 34 Winner of the most French Open singles titles 35 Pad see ew ingredient 36 Opposing argument 37 “May contain ___” 43 Procedure where you may be asked to select numbers 44 Terbium or erbium, e.g.

45 Looked the wrong way?

50 “Ready ___ ...”

51 Band of murder hornets, e.g.

52 The Governator, familiarly 53 Candidate who dropped out in February 2020 54 Fruit spray banned by the EPA 55 Blocks that inspired an animated Batman movie 58 Chemistry 101 model 59 Drive-___ window 60 Pay attention to 62 “Fuel” singer DiFranco 63 Kanga’s kid

20 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

: I started seeing a guy right before quarantine.

In fact, we’ve broken quarantine a lot to be together at his place. I really like him, but I’m worried because our entire relationship has taken place indoors (watching movies, playing video games, sex). We have no experience together in real life, and maybe I don’t know the real him.

What if we go to dinner and he’s rude to the wait staff? How can I figure out what kind of person he is when we can’t go to places where we engage with other people?

— Worried

A

: You see who people are when they’re tested.

That’s why fiction is filled with knights going off on a decades-long perilous quest for the Holy Grail as opposed to briefly looking behind the couch for the Apple TV remote.

However, you don’t have to wait till restaurants reopen to get a sense of whether this dude’s a good guy or some Mr. Complainypants McMantoddler. And frankly, restaurant encounters are a pretty low bar for revealing character. Most people trying to make a good impression (and especially sociopathic douchesicles) know to contain themselves, genteelly waving their server over rather than yelling across the restaurant, “Yo, waitslave!”

Because we live in Modernville, our lives are physically easier than at any other time in human history. We go to the gym to get the physical workout we previously would’ve gotten milking the cows and plowing the fields. Hard times that come from both physically and emotionally difficult situations are the gym where character is made and shows itself, where you see whether a person is fragile or “antifragile.” “Antifragile” is a term by risk researcher and former derivatives trader Nassim Taleb to describe how stress and conflict are sources of improvement for living things, strengthening them and making them more able to cope with difficult and unpredictable situations.

In other words, the quarantine can be a good thing for character investigation. In lieu of dinner dates, you can schedule challenging oneon-one activities that show you what he’s made of. Camping and hiking are two sure character exposers. Or, if you prefer your challenges less wilderness-oriented, you could work together to assemble IKEA furniture. Consider yourself on the path to happily ever after if you don’t end up with three mysterious pieces of hardware left and/or murder-suicide each other with an Allen wrench.

BY Amy Alkon

Trial By Fireworks

Q

: I seem to need more excitement than most people. After eight months together, my boyfriend and I have fallen into a routine.

Simply scheduling regular date nights seems unlikely to improve things. I’m 35, not 5, and I realize an ongoing relationship won’t be as exciting as when it was new, but I’m worried my boredom is a sign I don’t really love him.

(And I’m pretty sure I do.)

— Worried Woman

A

: Unfortunately, love is not a cure for boredom, so there’s a point in a relationship when it’s tempting to trade a lifetime with Prince Charming for three hours with Prince Random Stranger.

With love and stability comes predictability, the slow, bleak death of excitement. This is a bummer for anyone in a relationship, but especially hard if you “need more excitement than most people.”

That suggests you are a high scorer in a personality trait psychologist Marvin Zuckerman termed “sensation seeking.” It plays out in a jonesing for novel, varied, and intense experiences “and the willingness to take risks for the sake of such experience” (such as risking a relationship for some strange).

Recognizing that you have this craving could help you meet it in less romantically destructive ways. You might feed the beast on your own by taking up adrenaline-amping activities like hang gliding or zip lining, or if those are a little out of geographic or budgetary range, jogging through dark alleys in bad parts of town.

To bring more novelty and surprise to your relationship, trade weekly date nights for weekly mystery date nights. Take turns planning them, and keep what you’re planning a secret from the other (save for any necessary information about wardrobe, etc.). Because novelty and surprise are the baby mamas of excitement, even an unexpected date eating hot dogs together on a bench while watching the sun set over a pretty body of water is likely to check the boxes.

But don’t stop at suggesting mystery date nights. Tell your boyfriend why: because you have quite the appetite for excitement. He can’t provide what he hasn’t been told you need, and this breeds resentment. You grow resentful over your unmet needs, and then he grows resentful over your resentment. And because it’s called “making love,” not “confirming hate,” any excitement you two had about sex (with each other) follows general excitement out the door, and “that thing” you do in bed becomes listening through the walls to the neighbors actually having sex.

EPIC | UnitedHealthcare WEHearing STAND

MEDICAL (P

BESIDE YOU & FOR YOU

In an effort to accommodate and assist those needing to hear during this period, effective immediately, Beltone is providing 1 on 1 free in home, in office or curbside hearing testing as well as remote telecare hearing services. Why? Because hearing and understanding what’s being said and going on around us is more important now than ever before. Please see below for current incentives we are offering to those in need of hearing care services.

negative effects of untreated HEARING LOSs

ENROLLED WITH A MEDICARE ADVANTAGE OR SUPPLEMENT PLAN? BELTONE HONORS ALL PLANS AND PROVIDERS BELOW ARE JUST A FEW:

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JOHN L SMITH

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Coverage starts/Cobetura empieza

03-01-2020 03-01-2020

BeltoneSkoricHearing.com

3x increased risk of falling

5x increased risk of dementia

Dear Neighbor, If you’ve been relying on reading lips to understand conversations due to hearing loss, it will be very difficult to read lips while wearing a mask as this may be our new way of life. Hearing and understanding what’s going on around us is more important now than ever before. Let’s solve the root of the problem by treating your hearing loss condition today.

We offer free 1-on-1 in home, in office or curbside hearing testing, as well as remote telecare services. Our offices are also taking extra sanitary precautions, such as sterilizing our offices before and after each patient and wearing protective face masks and gloves to serve you.

Because we know finances may be an issue, we want to extend a helping hand, we are offering: BUY ONE HEARING AID, GET YOUR 2ND HEARING AID 1/2 OFF. Please (231) 356-0559 225-0376 today today to to use use your yourspecial specialoffer offercoupon couponbelow! below!

Please call call (989) (989) 607-4576 or (810)

negative effects of untreated HEARING LOSs

32% increased risk of hospitalization

3x increased risk of falling

ASnegative SMALL ASofA DIMEHEARING LOSs effects untreated

5x increased risk of dementia

32% increased risk of hospitalization

5x increased 32% increased depression & risk of dementia risk of hospitalization social isolation

AS SMALL AS A DIME

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3x increased risk of falling

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Entitled to/Con derecho a

HOSPITAL (PART A) MEDICAL (PART B)

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Medicare Number/Número de Medicare

123-45-6789-A

HEARING AID GET ONE 1/2 OFF

FREE depression & social isolation

*Towards the purchase of select model hearing systems, based on two instruments.

Discount taken off MSRP. Cannot be combined with any other offer or discount.

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SAVE

AS SMALL AS A DIME

(989) 607-4576 & (231) 225-0376

*Towards the purchase of select model hearing systems, based on two instruments.

Discount taken off MSRP. Cannot be combined with any other offer or discount.

Not valid on prior purchases. Limit one coupon per person.

BUY ONE HEARING AID GET 2ND 1/2 OFF

Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 21

NORTHERN EXPRESS

CLASSIFIEDS

OTHER

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BUYING OLD WOODEN DUCK DECOYS BUYING old wooden Duck, Goose and Fish Decoys, call or text 248 877-0210.

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Send resume www.uucgt.org

RANDY’S DINER IS THE PLACE FOR OUTSTANDING BURGERS! Open Monday-Saturday OPENOPEN MONDAY THRU SATURDAY FROM 7AM TO 8:30PM 9am6am-9pm to 8pm Monday thru Saturday

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And our & dining room is open with DELIVERIES! cod, gyros, reubens, outside tables available!

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Contact orburgers, GrubHub for deliveries! soups, DinnerBell or GrubHubEat forFree deliveries!

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1120 CARVER STREET, TRAVERSE CITY 231 946-0789 22 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

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Northern Express Weekly • may 25, 2020 • 23

OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT Valued Guests, First off, we would like to thank you for your patience as we work through this trying time. The Tribe and Executive Team have been working diligently to ensure that the safety of our Guests and Team Members continues to be a top priority.

That being said, it has been decided that we will be reopening our properties on the following dates: • Odawa Casino Mackinaw opened Friday, May 22 at 10:00AM. ° No one under the age of 21 will be permitted to enter Odawa Casino Mackinaw City. ° The Mukwa is open daily.

° Slot Machines are open with limited seating.

• Odawa Casino Petoskey will be opening on Friday, May 29 at 10:00AM. ° No one under the age of 19 will be permitted to enter Odawa Casino Petoskey. ° There will be limited entrances to Odawa Casino Petoskey; guests will be able to utilize the Main Entrance and the Underground Parking only at this time. The side lot and valet will not be available. ° The Copper Café will be open daily. ° Slot Machines and Table Games will be open with limited seating.

• Odawa Hotel will begin taking reservation calls at 10:00AM on June 1, for dates beginning on June 11.

Things will look a bit different when our doors open, and we will be reopening in phases. The phased reopening follows the guidance of public health professionals.

Here are just some of the actions we are taking to keep you and our Team Members safe. Please see our website for a list of what actions are being taken at each Odawa Casino property to ensure safety: • We are taking temperatures before anyone is permitted to enter any of the properties. Team Members and Guests with a temperature above 100.0°F, without exception, will not be permitted.

• In following CDC guidelines, Team Members and Guests are required to wear masks at any of the properties. Guests are encouraged to bring and wear their personal masks. Guests wishing to enter the Casino that do not have a mask may obtain one from Security or the Players Club at either Casino, or the front desk of the Hotel while supplies last.

• All properties will temporarily be non-smoking. Designated outdoor smoking areas will be marked.

• We are following social distancing practices everywhere. Watch for specific reminders throughout all properties.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Ron Olson General Manager Odawa Casino

24 • may 25, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly