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NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • november 11 - november 17, 2019 • Vol. 29 No. 43

d o w n t o w n s u t t o n s b ay

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2 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

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contributions to the ongoing dialogue about climate change. But the big picture stays ugly. The fossil fuel industry continues to dominate the world’s economy and — contrary to its public relations B.S. — continues to invest in future expansion. Too many politicians are in its pocket. And the public is accustomed (addicted, really) to the convenience and mobility of fossil fuel-based energy; greenhouse gas emissions and miles driven keep going up. Consequences? Sheer hell for our descendants and other life on earth. Science is right about that and right about the timeline. We live like kings so that future generations all over the world will live in chaos. We’re not being good ancestors.

What to do?

Certainly, keep on (or start) supporting local and national organizations on the right side of this challenge. (And don’t waste effort trying to convert denialists, those folks quaffing the It’s-all-a-Chinese-hoax Kool-Aid.) And consider this: Be a leader. Contact friends who understand the seriousness of this threat and start up an action group (it’s more productive and fun than working alone, and we all have other responsibilities, so share the effort) to write letters, carry signs, and confront politicians, public officials, power companies, and the business-as-usual mentality. Oh … and have fun potlucks, too.

If you need info, look up Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, and many others. For inspiration, Greta Thunberg. But I’ll bet you know enough right now to get started.

Ron Tschudy, East Jordan

Some Solutions Global warming. “Warm” is a comfort word. What too many people do not realize is that global warming is a major cause of an ice age. From what I’ve researched, global weather patterns that once took thousands of years have accelerated in our current culture to hundreds of years, if not mere decades. So please do not misconstrue the facts. Global warming does not mean you can slather on the suntan lotion for another month; it means dragging out the long johns much earlier and for much longer.

New topic: “Medicare for all.” Once again, all candidates have pulled up their medicine wagons and succeeded in their carnival-hawking of great (but useless) promises. Why has no one mentioned the medical profession’s input on this? Possibly by the government (aka our tax monies) underwriting the education of health care professionals, then requiring of them X numbers of service years in a provider program before granting a license for private practice, this Medicare for All business could work. This complete restructuring of the system will take many years and will not be brought about by the empty promises we are currently being inundated with. And certainly not with the current cost of higher education and the “Care for Profit” system.

On the subject of medicine: In a much earlier letter I stated that we will never see a “cure” for cancer as long as the treatments are so lucrative. Now, that greed has generated to all pharmaceuticals. Truth: The federal government could act on the citizens’ behalf regarding the obscene profits of the drug companies. The matter constitutes a “public health crisis,” and it is within their power to intervene. Lobbying must be outlawed.

And the politicians must get off their wellcushioned pockets and act for the benefit of their constituents instead of Big Pharma.

Sharon M. Peters, Petoskey Be the Change First, thanks to the letter writers and editorialists of Northern Express for their

FishPass: Something’s Fishy It’s no wonder we taxpayers are suspicious of this proposed project. Instead of repairing the Union Street Dam, governmental entities outside of Traverse City decided we would be good guinea pigs for this unproven project, because someone else decided the dam was in danger of failing. When FishPass was proposed to city leaders, with $22 million dangled as a bargaining chip, it seemed like a good solution.

In addition to dam repair, FishPass would magically sort “good fish” from “bad fish” in a big concrete tank, controlling which species occupy different sections of the Boardman (formerly Ottoway) River.

The facility would remove 63 large trees from the immediate area, and throw in an amphitheater, parking lot, boardwalks, and more hard-scape for good measure. Such a deal!

But in truth, the dam is not failing. In 2018 inspectors certified it as being in “satisfactory condition.” Their suggestion was to simply replace the pipes, at a cost of about $400,000.

There are so many unanswered questions about FishPass. The facility’s proponents have not even defined the method that will be used to sort the fish. Where is the proven science behind this type of facility? It doesn’t exist, because it has never before been implemented.

If it fails, what kind of long-term environmental and financial consequences will Traverse City have to deal with? For how long? Who pays for maintenance? Liability?

FishPass is completely experimental. We should remember the Asian Carp experiment and the law of unintended consequences. The Boardman River should be kept as natural as possible — not commodified as a tourist attraction.

Ann Rogers, Traverse City The Illusionist Many of us have ordinary needs. We desire security, a feeling of usefulness, some certainty of competence. A problem to solve, a cause to champion, a place to fit in. Many of us also seek our own loving God for grace, redemption, and peace. Sadly, some lust for nothing more

than money and power. They will say and do anything to possess it, even if it pits American against American. Enter the Illusionist.

So many pressing problems that only this Illusionist could solve. He’s the “stable genius” with “unmatched wisdom” who knows more than generals, scientists, doctors, and meteorologists combined. The entertainer who promised to remedy every conceivable ill we face in our personal lives. Then, failing miserably, he lays all the blame on others, never himself.

The rebuilding of our country’s infrastructure has been abandoned. America’s best healthcare plan is a GoFundMe page.

Manufacturers are still offshoring jobs. Public education is crumbling. Mass shootings are regrettably solved with thoughts and prayers.

Outright environmental destruction and devastated farm families are going bankrupt.

On the bright side, vacancies are down at his properties, as are (presumably) his golf scores.

His singular version of greatness.

Meanwhile, the swamp gets deeper, and extraction becomes ever-more difficult. Now, he actively promotes a schism in our country.

Those attempting to hold this Illusionist accountable are derided as fakes, spies and/or accused of treason by those who look only to continue profiting from his Illusions.

Believing in illusions is comforting. Living in reality is something else entirely.

John Hunter, Traverse City Trump Family Scammed Military As a disabled veteran, it always gives me a thrill to see Old Glory properly displayed. I’ve had the honor and pleasure to carry the flag in parades, from my Boy Scout years to my senior citizen years.

That said, there are really only two ways to show patriotism: The first is to serve in uniform. (Thank you to all my brother and sister vets out there.) And the second is to pay federal income tax to pay for our military.

Trump has done neither.

It would be hard to find another family that has lived in the United States for four generations and never had one of its family members put on a uniform. (My father was born three years before Fred Trump, and he served in World War II.) There has only been one presidential candidate in 50 years that has not showed his tax returns, which seems to imply he doesn’t pay taxes.

Don Seman, Bellaire Local & National Corruption Some readers might have difficulty deciding what punishment is warranted for President Trump’s decision to withhold up $400 million already appropriated by Congress for military aid unless and until Ukraine’s new president agreed to make a public statement that Ukraine would investigate Joe Biden and his family. Perhaps a local example of this sort of corruption will clear the confusion, so I offer the following hypothetical.

A township board authorized payment of $50,000 to a contractor whose company had repainted the township hall. The township treasurer, who is running for reelection in two weeks, advises the contractor that he will not sign the $50,000 check unless and until the contractor sends a letter to the editor of Northern Express denouncing the treasurer’s political opponent. By chance, the township clerk and a trustee overheard the treasurer’s threat and reported it to the county prosecutor.

Just ask yourself how long it would take for the prosecutor to bring charges, how long it would take the court to find the treasurer guilty, and how many years the treasurer would spend in jail.

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

Double Life.........................................................10 Can One Volunteer Change the World?.............13 Mitch Albom..................................................14 Treat Yourself.................................................15 The Art of Mourning............................................17 Meaningful Music from Kittel & Co..................18 Seen.........................................................20

dates................................................21-24 music Four Score.....................................................26

Nightlife.........................................................28

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

Spectator/Stephen Tuttle....................................6 Modern Rock/Kristi Kates................................25 Film................................................................27 Advice..........................................................29 Crossword...................................................29 Freewill Astrology..........................................30 Classifieds..................................................31

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 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, Al Parker, Jennifer Hodges, Michael Phillips, Steve Tuttle, Kristi Kates, Anna Faller, Craig Manning Copyright 2019, 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.

Jay S. Johnson, Empire Township

Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 3

this week’s

top ten TCAPS School Board Targeted Politics surrounding Traverse City Area Public Schools continue to roil following the abrupt departure of a newly hired superintendent and the school’s board’s agreement to pay her $180,000 in severance.

A citizen’s group called TCAPS Transparency has launched an effort to recall school board members Sue Kelly, Jeff Leonhardt, Pam Forton and Matt Anderson. The group is awaiting approval of petition language and hopes to gather and enough signatures to get the recall on the ballot in a special election in May. The board came under fire amid the resignation of Superintendent Ann Cardon, who left under mysterious circumstances that apparently arose in a dispute with Kelly.

Kelly and the three other board members have come under criticism of a fellow trustee, Erica Moon Mohr, who has called for all of the board members to resign.

Kelly defended herself and the other board members in a comment to Northern Express’ online sister publication, The Ticker.

“I believe it is an outstanding board doing a terrific job,” she said. “I am very proud to be serving with them and intend to continue serving with them.”

2 tastemaker

crow & moss chocolate

All good things begin with chocolate, but some of the very best chocolate bars, it turns out, are born from heirloom cacao beans sourced from single farms in some of the world’s hardest to reach places. Then, in Petoskey, in wee 100-pound batches, they’re hand-sorted, roasted, cracked, winnowed, refined, conched (think “polished”), then precisely warmed and cooled. Luckily for us, Mike Davies, of Petoskey’s newly launched Crow & Moss chocolate, takes the time. For his Honduras Wampusirpi bar — earthy, malty, and deep with notes of honey, banana, and toasted walnuts — he brought in a 2018 harvest of beans from a remote part of northeastern Honduras, accessible only by a two-day journey by canoe. For the Brazilian Santos Coffee bar, he’s blended coffee — dried right inside coffee cherries hauled from southern Brazil’s Santos region — with cacao beans grown on a finca on the eastern edge of Columbia. One bite of either bar, and you’ll understand why Davies goes so far. You, however, don’t even need to leave the couch.

Order any (or many) of his five exotic chocolate bars ($9 each) directly from www.crowandmoss.com. Can’t wait? You can also find them at McLean & Eakin Booksellers and Symons General Store, both in Petoskey.

4 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

harvest food & supply drive One of the many ways to help your community this holiday season is by donating to the Harvest Food & Supply Drive that benefits the Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan. Bring donations of: grocery/supermarket gift cards, non-perishable foods, household goods/paper products, personal care items, and financial contributions to the WRCNM main office at 423 Porter St., Gold Mine Resale Shops in Petoskey, WRCNM offices in Cheboygan, Gaylord, or Mancelona. 231-347-1572. wrcnm.org

Hey, read it!

Dead Astronauts

4

In the wake of a criminal company’s biotechnical destruction, astronauts Grayson, Morse, and Chen awake to the dawn of an alien landscape. Not really human and no longer living, they belong to an ever-growing mass of pre-engineered prey created solely for the consumption of the unseen Leviathan. In an unnamed city, centuries after the destruction of the world as we know it, the three human has-beens must fight for the future of man versus machine. The fate of the earth, and all its iterations, depends on it. On Dec. 3, award-winning author Jeff VanderMeer invites readers back to the mind-bending postapocalyptic world of his 2017 novel, “Borne,” with the saga’s second installment, “Dead Astronauts.”

Straight from the sci-fi specialist himself, this is one novel of planetary proportions.

5

The Brew Bus is an exciting and unique way to explore Traverse City. Whether you enjoy beer, wine, or just want to experience the area, the Brew Bus can take you there!

6

Northern Michigan Election Roundup

The incumbent mayors of northern Michigan’s two largest cities held on to their seats, early childhood education passed in Leelanau County, and Benzie County voters shot down yet another school funding request.

Here’s a roundup of election results in the races Northern Express highlighted in the Oct. 28 issue.

In Traverse City, Mayor Jim Carruthers fended of a challenge from a young opponent, Shea O’Brien, in a vote tally of 2,597–1,347.

Petoskey Mayor John Murphy hung on to defeat challenger Reg Smith in an election that had become a referendum on the city’s rejection of Petoskey Grand, a proposed development for a long-vacant downtown property.

A Leelanau County proposal to expand early childhood education barely squeaked by with 3,343 votes in favor and 3,244 rejecting. Supporters of the 0.253 millage request argued it would support parents and children at the most vulnerable and impactful time in their lives, as well as save money in the long run by preventing societal problems early on rather than correcting or punishing them later.

Finally, Benzie County voters narrowly rejected a school millage request for the second time this year. The $48 million bond proposal would have paid for a new elementary school, two more classrooms at Lake Ann Elementary, a new bus garage and fleet upgrades, and major improvements to the middle school and high school. It failed in a vote of 1,573– 1,674, sending school leaders back to the drawing board again.

For the Love of Frozen: A Princess Tea Party at The Inn at Bay Harbor

Stuff we love Being Lazy and Thankful at the Same Time In this, our inaugural Treat Yourself issue, we would be remiss if we didn’t give you a heads up on two great Northern traditions that enable you to host Thanksgiving dinner whilst cooking absolutely nothing. One, treat yourself to Shanty Creek’s Turkeys-To-Go, in which you pre-order a complete Thanksgiving meal that you can pick up at the resort’s The Lakeview Restaurant Nov. 28. Or two, treat yourself to Stafford’s Turkey-To-Go, in which you also can pre-order a complete Thanksgiving meal ($139, feeds six to eight) for turkey day and pick up at multiple locations: the Bay View Inn in Petoskey, Stafford’s Pier Restaurant in Harbor Springs, or Stafford’s Weathervane Restaurant in Charlevoix. Don’t want to do dishes either? Easier yet — each of the above restaurants (plus Stafford’s Perry Hotel in Petoskey) offer Thanksgiving dinner in their house for $29.95–$39.95 per adult and from free (for kids 5 and under, The Lakeview only) to $25 or less, depending on location. Learn more now at www.staffords.com and www.shantycreek.com; you can be thankful for us later.

Got a little princess counting down the days to the Nov. 22 release of Frozen 2? The Inn at Bay Harbor has a little something to tide her over: It’s welcoming Elsa and Anna — in person — for a special Frozen Weekend Nov. 16–17. The overnight package includes a Saturday spa day for little princesses, with mini manicures and hair styling. That night princesses can make their own tiaras before settling in to watch Frozen and enjoy treats. The next morning, it’s a Princess Tea Party featuring the princess sisters of Arendelle, who will visit and take photos with attendees, then host a parade and dance party. “This is our first character event,” said Erin Ernst, director of communications for Boyne, which oversees The Inn at Bay Harbor. She said it’s timed to not only coincide with the upcoming release of Frozen II but also another blizzard of activity: the opening weekend of deer season, so moms and daughters can enjoy some special time of their own. Prices depend on lodging options; call (855) 811-4402 or visit www.innatbayharbor.com.

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Forgive us for our fourth cider profile within a few scant issues, but it tis the season, after all, and northern Michigan’s cider magicians rarely disappoint. We half-hoped The Cunning Ham would; its name and label’s iconic airborne pig initially suggested some salty and pungent eau de bacon might reside inside, but no; its moniker and the resultant pork plane came innocently, a clever ode to an old cellar hand named Graham, “who shed light on the possibility of alternative yeast selections.” Thanks be to Graham, then, who presumably led Charley by his left foot to the wonders of Saison yeast, which lends a peppery edge to the fruit. Coupled with multiple fermentations and a long rest in bourbon barrels formerly home to brandy, The Cunning Ham breathes a promising funk to the nose and a slightly sweet but deep character that kept us swigging like, well … piggies. $8 per 500 ml bottle. ABV 7%.

Find it at the Left Foot Charley tasting room (806 Red Dr. in The Village at Grand Traverse Commons) or order it and find other retailers online at www.leftfootcharley.com.

Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 5

TAKING ORDERS FROM A FOOL

TRY !

NG I L R U C

spectator

by Stephen Tuttle What happened to those Trump generals?

And where were their defenders?

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Our presidents seem to have an affinity for the military. Uniformed officers, chests bristling with ribbons, make for a most excellent photo-op. It’s a physical manifestation of the real power we vest in the president.

Which is not to suggest that affinity isn’t real despite all the obvious public relations stunts; more than half of our presidents, 26 of 45, have served in the military.

In the last 60 years, Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush the elder, and Bush the lesser all served in some capacity. Only Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump did not.

East. Mattis was particularly exercised over the decision to abandon our Kurdish allies in Syria. The president has now publicly referred to Mattis as “the world’s most overrated general.”

General H.R. McMaster retired with nearly as many medals as Kelly and Mattis combined, including a Silver Star and Bronze Star with two oak leaf clusters. He was the president’s national security advisor until he said there was “incontrovertible evidence” that the Russians, in an effort to aide Trump, had interfered in the 2016 elections. The president clarified by saying McMaster had forgotten to mention the interference had no bearing on the outcome. White House staffers have subsequently described McMaster as “gruff,” “condescending,” “aggressive,” and, of course, “overrated.”

It is perhaps telling that Kelly, Mattis, and McMaster all disagreed with the president about something and stood their ground. They held fast to code of country, duty, and honor above all else. They were all removed and then denigrated upon their departure.

President Trump, like those before him, revels in our military accomplishments. So much so that he revealed much in his recent announcement of the killing of the ISIL leader that the military would have preferred be kept secret. And like those before him, he took credit for the action, although his, “I got him,” statement was a bit much.

Parallel 45 Theatre’s

THE ALPHABET EXPERIENCE

November 30 - December 1 December 7 - December 8 A COMEDY FOR ALL AGES. Parallel 45 performs 26 micro-plays – one for every letter – in under an hour.

Bring the family for a fast-paced hour of laughter, spectacle and absurd delight.

THE BERGAMOT HOLIDAY CONCERT Thursday, December 19

The Bergamot Holiday Concert is an intimate night of music and storytelling where founding members Nathaniel and Jillian warm the hearts of listeners with songs and stories of inspiration and hope.

Trump attached himself to the military from the beginning of his administration. Remember his proud declarations about “my generals” and their lists of accomplishments?

There was John Kelly, James Mattis, Michael Flynn, and H.R. McMaster, all former generals with significant experience and credentials. None of them lasted, and only one has escaped the Trump Insult Machine.

General John Kelly — retired with nearly two dozen various medals, commendations, and citations — was Trump’s first secretary of Homeland Security and then his chief of staff. He lasted 18 months in the second job, better than most. His attempts to bring order and structure to the White House were unsuccessful, and his departure was met with typical denigration from the administration. Their latest Trumpian insult came from Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who said Kelly was “ ... totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president.”

General James Mattis retired with nearly 30 medals, including the Bronze Star with a V for valor. The author of several books on military engagement and strategy, Mattis was Trump’s first secretary of defense. He lasted nearly two years, but his job security became tenuous early on when Trump suggested torture might be a good idea, and Mattis flatly declared our military would not do it since, you know, it’s against the law.

He ultimately broke away from Trump over various policies and decisions in the Middle

6 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

General Michael Flynn also retired with a chest full of medals, including a Bronze Star with three oak leaf clusters. He was Trump’s very first national security advisor and held the job for all of 23 days. It turned out he was wasn’t quite truthful to the White House about his contacts with Russians. To compound the problem, he wasn’t truthful when interviewed by the FBI, either, and has pleaded guilty to lying to them. He still awaits sentencing.

It is perhaps telling that Kelly, Mattis, and McMaster all disagreed with the president about something and stood their ground.

They held fast to code of country, duty, and honor above all else. They were all removed and then denigrated upon their departure.

Flynn, of whom the president still speaks at least somewhat fondly, lost track of that code and lied either to protect himself or the president, or both.

The mystery here is the silence of most of the 66 Republicans in Congress who have served in the military. (There are also 30 Democrat vets, but they complain loudly any time Trump does anything.)

Those Republican vets, with few exceptions, did not speak up when the president was insulting Gold Star parents, or John McCain’s war record, or three highly decorated generals. Maybe they fear the mighty Trump Tweet Machine, or maybe they’ve forgotten where their loyalties should lay.

We’ve a president embracing the military with great bravado, then gleefully insulting his own appointed generals when they attempt to put the country ahead of him. His GOP sycophants, even most of the veterans, don’t seem to mind a bit, and don’t utter a peep.

Or maybe the lesson is simpler: Generals just aren’t used to taking orders from a fool.

Crime & Rescue MAN KILLED ON I-75 Icy roads claimed another life in northern Michigan.

Cheboygan County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a crash at 1:36pm Nov. 2, where a man was killed and his wife seriously injured when their vehicle crashed into another that had stopped along the side of I-75 in Ellis Township.

Deputies determined that a car had gone into a ditch, and the driver of a Chevrolet Silverado had pulled to the side to help out the driver of the car; a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu then crashed into the Silverado, killing the Malibu’s driver, 62-year-old Michael Trafton of Lake Orion. Laurie Trafton, 59, was taken to McLaren Northern Michigan in critical condition.

PAROLEE SENT BACK TO PRISON A Mancelona man caught with an iPhone during a traffic stop was sent back to prison for violating the terms of his parole.

In August, a state police Hometown Security Team trooper made a traffic stop in Gaylord of a vehicle that lacked a registration tag. When the trooper learned that the driver was on parole, he asked for his parole officer’s contact information, which the man kept on his phone.

Shane Scott Hammond was arrested for a parole violation when the officer realized that, as a condition of his parole, the 23-year-old was not allowed to possess a smart phone, according to a Nov. 4 press release.

Hammond was sent back to prison, where he is serving three to five years for a conviction of attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

DEPUTIES CALLED TO STORAGE DISPUTE Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a man and a woman following an early-morning dispute at a Garfield Township storage locker.

A 38-year-old woman was arrested for drunk driving after she allegedly tried to ram her 2008 Ford Escape into the front of a storage locker to get inside, Capt. Christopher Clark said.

A 53-year-old Traverse City man might face domestic violence charges after the woman told deputies that he had punched her in the face several times.

The man called 911 at 12:23am Saturday to report that he was inside a storage unit at Security Storage on Barlow Road and that a woman was trying to get inside; dispatchers could hear the woman yelling obscenities in the background, Clark said.

When deputies arrived, they found the man sitting on a bed in the storage unit, holding the women down on the floor with his legs.

The man told deputies that he just wanted to “make music” in his storage unit when he was disturbed by the woman; the woman said that their argument had escalated into physical violence.

ESTRANGED HUSBAND ARRESTED An Elk Rapids man faces charges in Benzie County for allegedly attacking and strangling his estranged wife.

State police were called at 11:30am Oct. 31 to home on Lake Ann Road in Almira Township, where a woman said her estranged husband came to her home and attacked her.

Police tracked down the suspect, 55-year-old Bruce Blesma, at a relative’s home near Elk Rapids.

He was taken to the Benzie County jail and charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm and domestic violence.

by patrick sullivan psullivan@northernexpress.com

SNOW CAUSES CRASHES The first snowfall of the season kept Leelanau County Sheriff’s deputies busy.

At just before 8am Nov. 5, a 2007 Subaru rolled over on East Carter Road in Elmwood Township after an 18-year-old driver overcorrected on a slushy road. He was not injured.

Less than an hour later, one driver rearended another on South Bugai Road at the M-72 intersection. Neither driver, the 48-year-old Suttons Bay man who caused the crash, nor the 69-year-old Lake Leelanau women in the other car, were injured.

At 11am, a 19-year-old Lake Ann woman driving a 2007 Saturn SUV crashed at the intersection of South Benzonia Trail and South Glen Lake Road. The woman struck a large boulder that had been placed there to protect a residence because so many cars have crashed into that yard.

The woman was not injured.

MOLESTATION SUSPECT CHARGED State police arrested a man in Las Vegas following a child molestation investigation in Petoskey.

The Department of Health and Human Services called police about the suspected sexual abuse of a minor in June, and they worked together to interview the child.

The suspect, 21-year-old Ronny Stacy, was known to the child’s family and lived in the Petoskey area from December 2018 through May 2019.

Stacy was arrested in Nevada, and the state police fugitive team travelled there to bring him back to Michigan Nov. 3. He was charged in Emmet County with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and was held in jail in lieu of a $25,000 bond.

Police interviewed the suspect, Bryan Beavers, and arrested him for third-degree criminal sexual conduct, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

SHOOTING RULED JUSTIFIED The actions of police officers who shot and killed a suicidal man who had pulled a gun were determined to be justifiable, and they will not face charges.

State police investigated the Oct. 26 shooting by a Boyne City Police officer and Charlevoix County Sheriff’s deputy that ended the life of 27-year-old Johnathan Slattery. Investigators determined that Slattery fired first in the standoff.

Prosecutor Allen Telgenhof reviewed the report and determined that no charges were warranted.

A short time later, the Northport fire chief swerved his vehicle to avoid a collision with the Subaru on Rose Street. Soon after, he was he was dispatched to Fifth Street, where a 78-year-old man fell in the road while attempting to check on the Subaru after it crashed into some trees and a fire hydrant.

The fire chief detained the woman until deputies arrived. The woman was arrested for second-offense drunk driving. She had a blood alcohol level that was more than three times the limit.

NORTHPORT WOMAN CAUSES MAYHEM Deputies arrested a 68-year-old Northport woman for drunk driving following a string of crashes and odd behavior.

Leelanau County Sheriff’s were called to the village at 7:46am, after the woman had attempted to enter a business on Mill Street that was not yet open. The woman pulled on the front door, fell down, and then got back into her Subaru and drove away.

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BOYFRIEND ARRESTED FOR SEX ASSAULT State police arrested a 35-yearold Brethren man after they were called to investigate an abusive relationship.

In October, troopers went to the Brethren home a couple shared; the woman said she had been strangled, abused, and sexually assaulted since June.

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Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 7

A VITAL SCHOOL OF CHOICE: YOUR HOME opinion

bY Donna Gundle-Krieg When the time came to send our children to school in the Metro Detroit suburbs 20+ years ago, my husband and I were excited to try the sparkling new public school a mile away.

It had all the shiny bells and whistles, and it was located in a highly rated district. We were confident that both of our kids would fit in and do well.

For many reasons, the experience did not go as planned. Instead, over the years, our children ended up trying a combination of public schools, private schools, and best of all, home school.

Home-schooling might not be for everyone, but it is an excellent option for many children and families. Teaching our kids at home was a great experience for us and really fit our Libertarian lifestyle and philosophy.

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In 2016, 2.3 million children were homeschooled in the United States. This number is growing at about 5 percent per year. About 50,000 children are home-schooled in Michigan.

And according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), the choice is often a beneficial one: “The home-educated are typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development.”

Academically, NHERI finds that home-school students consistently score 15 to 30 points above public school students on standardized academic achievement tests, regardless of their parents’ formal education or income.

While some might argue that the homeschooling community “skims from the top,” that is absolutely not true. In fact, those with children who have trouble learning in the public schools are often the most attracted to homeschooling.

Well-meaning family and friends of homeschoolers often worry about “how the kids will be socialized.” Yet research shows “home-schoolers do very well with peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem.”

The flexible nature of home-schooling allows children more time to develop both hobbies and relationships. Downstate, we belonged to a home-school group at our church, in addition to several groups for sports, music, and much more.

There are also many home-school church and social based groups throughout northern Michigan.

The flexibility like the Flynn family enjoys was a benefit for us, too. My children were motivated to finish their home-school work by lunch each day so that they could play outside, work on puzzles, pursue music, and more.

There were also many more opportunities for educational family trips and day outings.

Why did my family end up home-schooling when we initially intended to take the traditional public school route?

There were many reasons. At age 6, my normally well-behaved son was constantly getting into trouble for disrupting the class. He finished his work quickly but, like many six-year-olds, he felt the need to talk to others when he was bored. For this, the school wanted me to pursue having him labeled as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but we thought he was just a typical boy and didn’t want to put him on medication.

At the same time, several girls in my daughter’s second grade class were sexually abused by an older student on the playground. The administrators denied it, and they tried to make the parents of these girls look like lunatics.

At the time, I was on the PTO board and also working as a journalist. During my own investigation, I found out that the boy was found guilty of the sexual assault in criminal court, and that the school district had settled out of court for lots of money.

I was angry and appalled, so I helped write a front-page newspaper story calling on the school district to answer the questions that many parents were asking. Over the holiday break, reality set in. We realized that we could not send our children to a school where second graders were abused, and officials were dishonest about our kids’ safety.

We also realized that our public-school district administrators were accountable to no one. Of course, we had a school board, but members were encouraged to keep quiet at meetings until they attended school board classes and gained experience on the board.

Our family’s experience with the local public school was painful, but it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to us. Our daughter home-schooled for three years before attending a local Catholic school. Our son, on the other hand, home-schooled at least part time from third grade through high school. Both of them ended up with fully paid four-year college scholarships. More importantly, both of them are happy and thriving adults.

Friends of ours who run Flynn’s Orchard and Farm to Door Market in Mancelona find that home-schooling suits their family quite well. In addition to home school, their young children learn and apply real world skills helping their parents run their farmers market booth.

In summary, home-schooling was a great experience for our family, and more and more families are trying it all the time.

The family belongs to Purity Ring Family Theatre, which meets in Petoskey. The kids just tried out for “Little House on the Prairie,” to be performed in mid-April.

Donna Gundle-Krieg, owner and broker of DEK Realty in Mancelona, is the chairperson of the Northwest Michigan Libertarian Party (NWMLP). Contact her at dokrieg@gmail.com

If you or your children are not happy with your local public or private school, why not homeschool?

Inexplicable Mothers Lounge, a company catering to new mothers, has conceived some awkward conversations for women on the receiving end of a recent marketing campaign. The company sent out maternity congratulations cards signed by “Jenny B” that included gift cards and coupons for products attractive to pregnant women. The problem is, as the BBC reported, many of the recipients aren’t pregnant. A woman in Memphis, Tennessee, tweeted: “Who the hell is Jenny B and why did she send me $245 in gift cards to my childhood home congratulating me on my pregnancy?! This is literally how my mother thought she was finding out that I was pregnant. I’m calling the FBI.” Another woman’s mother was “immediately so excited and freaked out ... I had to quickly tell her I am not in fact pregnant.” Mothers Lounge spokesman Scott Anderson explained that a third-party marketing company provided the mailing list. Sounds like a false-positive to us.

Awwwwwww Faith the one-legged mallard duck, of Gardner, Maine, will soon have more than one leg to stand on, thanks to Loni Hamner. Faith lost her leg in a fox attack last year but has been making do, Hamner told the Bangor Daily News: “She has taught herself how to stand and balance on that one leg, Putting Off the Inevitable Convicted bank robber and career criminal Michael Jauernik, 71, received a sentence of more than 12 years in prison in Germany on Oct. 7, but managed to stall his incarceration by delivering a five-day-long closing statement that included anecdotes about his career in crime and details about his fitness routine.

Twenty hours into the soliloquy, the judge finally cut him off, saying she wished she had done so earlier in light of his “excessive digressions,” The Guardian reported. Jauernik, who wore sunglasses throughout his trial, told the court, “I am more intelligent and clever than any employee of the criminal police agency, that much is sure.”

It’s Hard to Find Good Help After six years of litigation, six men were found guilty of attempted murder in late October in Guangxi, China, for participating in a chain of subcontracted murder-for-hire plots that never resulted in a death. Businessman Tan Youhui started the chain by hiring a hit man to “take out” a rival identified only as Mr. Wei, reported the BBC. That hit man then subcontracted a second hit man to do the dirty deed. Hit man No. 2 subcontracted with hit man No. 3, who then reached out to hit man No. 4. After getting the nod from No. 4, hit man No. 5, Ling Xiansi, decided on a different scheme: He contacted the target, Mr. Wei, and proposed they fake the murder and take the cash, which by this point amounted to 100,000 yen. Wei agreed, then reported the case to the police. Tan and the five hitmen will serve sentences ranging from 31 months to five years.

Least Competent Criminal Miguel Angel Reyes-Avila, 23, of Half Moon Bay, California, waited patiently until his neighbors took their dog for a walk on Oct. 6, then pounced, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff ’s Office. The San Jose Mercury News reports Reyes-Avila then allegedly entered their home through an open window and lifted about $4,000 worth of jewelry, plus the keys to their 2009 Mitsubishi. When the neighbors returned home and found their car gone, they called police, who asked neighborhood folks to share their security footage. Most helpful was

the video from Reyes-Avila’s own home, provided by another resident who was happy to help law enforcement. The camera caught a suspect driving away in the car, and sheriff ’s office spokesperson Rosemerry Blankswade said officers recognized Reyes-Avila from earlier incidents and arrested him on Oct. 10 on charges of felony burglary and grand theft auto.

Precocious Pet Archie, a French bulldog/Boston terrier mix who lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his human, Dee Borkowski, is in the doghouse after a fiery event on Oct. 16. As Borkowski watched Archie via her home security camera, he contentedly lounged on the couch, chewing on a cigarette lighter. Suddenly, United Press International reported, the lighter ignited, and her couch burst into flames. Borkowski called the fire department, and the 10-month-old puppy escaped unhurt, although her apartment suffered thousands of dollars of damage.

Borkowski has changed Archie’s Instagram handle to “Archie the Arsonist.”

Unconventional Sports Housekeepers from The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas took first place in the Las Vegas Housekeeping Olympics on Oct. 23, beating out second- and third-place teams from The Mirage and Circus Circus, United Press International reported. The competition, which took place at the Mandalay Bay resort, included bed-making contests, vacuum races and a toilet paper toss. Mandalay Bay President Chuck Bowling said the Olympics are a way of celebrating overlooked workers in the hospitality industry.

People With Issues Residents of the Oakland neighborhood in Topeka, Kansas, called police just after midnight on Oct. 27 to report that someone was driving construction equipment around the area. The Topeka Capital Journal reported that when officers arrived, they found 46-year-old Shane Dee Funk behind the wheel of a loader, a piece of heavy equipment, driving it through yards and streets and damaging property. Police Capt.

Colleen Stuart said Funk refused to stop for officers, and “numerous residences in the loader’s path were evacuated for safety purposes.” When Funk turned the loader toward police, they fired nonlethal bean bag pellets at him to disable him.

Funk was treated at a hospital, then booked into the Shawnee County Jail on charges of felony theft, criminal damage to property, aggravated assault to a law enforcement officer and fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement.

Compelling Explanation An unnamed resident of the Wilson Lane apartments in Elkins, West Virginia, told police she left her home for a few minutes on Oct. 18, returning a short time later to find a neighbor, Ronald L. Thorne Jr., 52, “standing in her apartment eating her lasagna from the refrigerator.” He went on to tell her he “just wanted to talk and maybe more,” and then he returned to his own apartment, carrying the lasagna and one of her forks, according to the police report. The Inter-Mountain reports the woman also told Randolph County Sheriff ’s officers that her home had been ransacked and $20 was missing from her purse. When officers confronted Thorne, he told them he “had been sleepwalking and had woke up standing in his neighbor’s apartment,” the complaint stated.

The officers also noticed a pan of lasagna on his table, and Thorne told them “she could have it back.” Thorne was arrested and charged with burglary; as he was being processed, a $20 bill was found in his wallet.

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DOUBLE LIFE

Christopher Cox was a pastor, a successful businessman, a Rotarian, a father and husband, a dedicated volunteer, and a highly sought nonprofit-fundraising consultant.

He was also a meth-addicted sexual predator who preyed on young men.

Warning: Some details in this story might be disturbing for readers.

By Patrick Sullivan There was talk among a small group of inmates at the Grand Traverse County jail, talk of a monster who lived in town, one who would lure young men to his office after dark, offer them meth, and then violate them in unthinkable ways.

The inmates wanted the police to investigate, but there was a problem: Christopher Ryan Cox chose young men on the margins of society, ones who liked drugs and had criminal records. Cox was an upstanding member of society, a businessman, and a pastor at Long Lake Church. Who would believe the inmates?

Around the same time, a Michigan State Police trooper took a complaint from a young man who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Cox, but the investigation lagged for lack of evidence.

Trooper Justin Rohrback didn’t forget that complaint, though. When he later heard that another young man had made a complaint about Cox, Rohrback sought out the man to tell his story.

Rohrback’s investigation led to charges against Cox, who ultimately pled guilty in a

plea bargain that took a life sentence off of the table.

On Nov. 5, following the former pastor’s plea to third-degree criminal sexual conduct, Circuit Court Judge Thomas Power sentenced Cox to the maximum sentence possible: 10 to 15 years in prison.

Cox said nothing at the hearing, and his attorney, Paul Jarboe, said very little.

Jarboe asked Power to sentence Cox to the minimum sentence under the guidelines, which would have been seven to 15 years.

attorney, even disputed Cox’s claim that he had graduated from Penn State University.

Hamlyn told Power that Cox’s degree was investigated and believed to be a fake.

“He’s not deserving of being associated with the fine institutions in our community that he was a part of,” Hamlyn said.

Power noted that for someone with Cox’s design skills, it would be easy to forge a degree. Nevertheless, he said, Cox didn’t deserve the benefit of doubt. He noted, too, that there was an account in the pre-sentence

Between the day he moved to Traverse City and the day he was arrested, Cox made an astonishing number of respectable connections for someone who was a drug addict and a sexual predator.

“It’s disappointing to be standing next to a man [under these circumstances], who has contributed to this community like this man has,” Jarboe said.

But prosecutors contend Cox’s good work for the community was merely part of an act, a con that got him close to vulnerable young men.

Charles Hamlyn, assistant prosecuting

10 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

investigation report that contended Cox was abused as a child, and even something like that he had to question.

“However, at the age of 42, it’s long past time for him to be responsible for his behavior,” Power said.

THE STORY OF A COMPLICATED MAN Cox’s story isn’t easy to unravel.

While many people who once worked with Cox declined to talk about him — at least publicly — some whom Northern Express contacted offered some insight into the man.

Michele Worden, president of the Master Gardener Association of Northwest Michigan, worked alongside Cox at some nonprofits.

Worden said Cox is very bright. Or, at least, she thought he was very bright. Worden said when the criminal charges were filed in April, it was as if Cox had died.

Nancy Johnson, a volunteer at Grace Episcopal Church in Traverse City, said Cox was an excellent designer.

“He did the rack card for our food pantry, and he did a wonderful job,” Johnson said.

“It’s beautiful. It’s wonderful.”

Johnson said she had no idea that something was wrong with Cox, except, perhaps, in retrospect, after the last time she saw him at a Northwest Food Coalition meeting, a few days before he was arrested.

“Something about him was not quite right,” she said. “He didn’t seem like the Christopher Cox that we knew before.”

EVERYWHERE AND ANYWHERE Cox moved to Traverse City less than a decade ago. He was originally from rural

Pennsylvania, where he told people he had grown up poor and often hungry. At some point he moved to Chicago, but in 2006, was convicted, in Illinois, of felony delivery of methamphetamine.

It’s unclear how, but within a few years of that conviction, Cox turned his life around.

Cox was married in September 2010 and bought a house near Traverse City. He and his wife had a daughter who is now in elementary school.

(The couple separated in September 2018, according to court documents, and Cox’s wife filed for divorce shortly after he was charged in April.)

Between the day he moved to Traverse City and the day he was arrested, Cox made an astonishing number of respectable connections for someone who was a drug addict and a sexual predator.

When Cox joined the Rotary Club in Traverse City, he got a standing ovation from the well-connected, community-minded club members, according to Traverse City Rotary’s website.

The writeup notes: “This guy is already living Rotary: he’s involved in a lot! And, maybe he will lead us in song one day; after all, he’s the new Conductor of the Benzie Chamber Orchestra.”

In addition to starting a successful website development company called Imprezza, he also served on the boards of Habitat for Humanity and East Bay Charter Township Board of Review. Before joining Long Lake Church, he was director of worship at Faith Reform Church in Traverse City.

In November 2017, Cox returned with his family to the place where he said his religious journey, at age 16, began: Butter Valley Community Church, located in Bally, Pennsylvania, a town of 1,090 in the southeastern region of the state.

“He considers Butter Valley to be his church home. Butter Valley is where he came to know and walk with Christ many years ago,” Butter Valley Pastor Mark Hager wrote about Cox in the church newsletter.

A LIFE FALLING APART Around the same time as that visit to Butter Valley, however, Cox’s life was falling apart.

Within a year, his meth-fueled predation of young men prompted chatter among inmates at the jail Grand Traverse County and spurred an investigation.

Bringing a case against Cox, however, proved challenging.

During his preliminary examination last June, four men told raw, harrowing stories about how Cox had violated them.

In the end, however, Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg asked only for charges stemming from two of the four encounters to be bound over for trial. The two other accounts, while disturbing, were too mired in the murkiness between consent and coercion.

The first witness against Cox at that hearing described the talk at the jail about the pastor’s sexual assaults. He said he joined in the conversation but otherwise would not have filed a complaint himself. He blamed what happened on his own substance abuse.

The 26-year-old described how he was unemployed and liked to take drugs. When he worked, he worked as a dishwasher or cleaned motel rooms. He typically lived with his parents, but on the day he testified, June 6, he was serving time in jail. He would be sentenced the next day to a year in jail, with credit for time served, for possession of methamphetamine.

The man said he had initially contacted Cox through Grindr, a gay hookup app, in November 2017. Cox responded immediately and within an hour, the man said, he was at Cox’s office on E. Front Street for an afterhours rendezvous that the man testified he

assumed would include drug use but not sex.

“The plan was originally set for us to just smoke methamphetamines,” he testified.

Then, “[Cox] had me lay down on his desk to proceed with intercourse.”

While the man said he didn’t exactly consent to sex, he didn’t object, either. He testified that he understood Grindr was an app for homosexual men to use to find people to hook up with for sex, but he said he didn’t anticipate that that’s where his meeting with Cox would lead. He described an almost overwhelming passivity that took over when Cox began sexual contact.

“I was highly nervous and very afraid there. I am not a very strong person. I can’t always stand up for myself. But I just mentioned I had to get home because I had to take my wife at the time to her drug test that morning,” he testified.

Cox ignored his request to stop, he said, and the ordeal went on for 10 more minutes.

Still, the man saw Cox two more times after that night — once more in October 2018, when he and a friend visited Cox’s new office to do some drugs, and a third time in December or January. The man testified that he was drunk and high before the subsequent visit, but his buzz was wearing off, and he wanted more drugs, so he contacted Cox. The man visited Cox at his new office on Garfield Avenue.

“We did smoke some methamphetamines there, and after a minute or two he told me to get on my knees for — to provide oral sex to him. And at that time, I mentioned that I needed to get home before a certain time, before my parents were awake, and my request was denied, and from there I was told to lay down, and anal penetration was then proceeded there,” the man testified.

While the man didn’t say no or tell Cox to stop, he said he thought he needed to follow Cox’s commands so that he would be able to leave. He said the sex lasted for two or three hours and ended when Cox said he needed to get home to his family.

BETWEEN CONSENT AND COERSION The first witness proved how hard it was to make a case against Cox with some of the victims involved. They wanted Cox to give them drugs. They might have known that something would be required in return.

The first question Cox’s attorney, Jarboe, asked the first witness during cross examination was: “Mr. ____, you know what happens with Grindr, don’t you?”

The man said yes, he knew it was an app for gay sex.

Next, Jarboe asked: “And you weren’t forced to engage in sex, either, were you?”

“I don’t suppose so,” the man acknowledged.

Nonetheless, through his testimony, the witness appeared to have ambivalent feelings about Grindr and said he mostly thought of it as a means to get drugs. Of the third meeting with Cox, the man said that he knew ahead of time that the drugs he received from Cox would not be free.

“He doesn’t just give drugs away. It’s not something that he does at all,” he testified.

Several witnesses, though, testified that, while Grindr is a gay sex app, some people use it for other things — to find friends and companionship through depression, for example.

The second witness against Cox also met him over Grindr.

The Gaylord man said he was an art student and working odd jobs when he came into contact with Cox over the app. He said he and Cox were in communication for about a month before he decided to block him while on a visit to Traverse City.

“He was just getting a little pushy, and I felt, like, too demanding for myself,” the man testified. “I blocked him when I got to

Traverse City because he kept blowing up my phone. … He got really pushy. He kept sending me graphic pics of him, you know, nude with his penis hanging out.”

The man ultimately agreed to meet Cox, however. He said he didn’t really have an explanation for why he relented.

“I was just done,” he said. “I had been through so much in my short life. I was just wanting to feel — ” Moeggenberg interrupted: “Well, you were going there to have sex?”

Witness: “Essentially it was going to lead to that, yes.”

Cox led the man into his office on Garfield around 10 that evening.

“We got into the office, and he closes and locks the door. At that point I felt very intimidated,” the witness said. “I am a very tall guy, a big guy, but he is quite substantially a little bit larger than I am.”

The man said Cox ordered him to take off his clothes, and he did.

From that point, an escalation of sex acts, which the witness described as consensual, took place. When the acts escalated to a point where they were no longer consensual, the man said he asked Cox to stop; Cox, he said, ignored him.

“He called himself an alpha male, and he kept going, and it really hurt, and I was screaming,” the man testified. “I was yelling extremely loud and saying no.”

The witness said Cox stopped 45 minutes later.

He said he didn’t fight back, though he now believes he should have. He didn’t report it to police. He didn’t tell friends or family.

“I am a very private individual to the point where my parents, my friends, my family doesn’t know who I socialize with because I want them to be protected, essentially,” the 23-year-old said.

A CLEAR-CUT CASE While a gray area existed with the first and second witnesses, that would have enabled Cox’s defense to argue that Cox merely had consensual homosexual sex with adults, the third witness, a 19-year-old, testified that Cox lured him to Cox’s office, drugged him to incapacitation, and then raped him.

“What happened was, he sent me a message on Facebook one day saying, ‘Hey, I need a drug buddy. Do you want to hang out?’” the teen said.

The third witness might represent the point where Cox leveraged his position as a pastor and nonprofit volunteer to hunt someone who would be a compliant victim.

Cox found someone who happened to be vulnerable prey — a young person teetering on homelessness. The teenager he had no idea who Cox was, but he nonetheless eagerly accepted the invitation. Cox picked up the teen one evening outside of the Traverse City homeless shelter Safe Harbor and drove to his office on Garfield.

When they got there, Cox pulled out a rock of crystal meth the size of a baseball, the teenager said. He said he had been a marijuana smoker, but he had not tried meth before.

“We smoked about 13 pipefuls of it,” the witness said. “By the time I got done smoking it, I had lost almost all control of my body. I knew what I was doing, yet I had no control over it.”

He likened it to being on autopilot.

He said Cox next gave him two eye droppers of a liquid that might have been the date-rape drug GHB. The teenager said he felt “about ready to die, I guess.”

He said he was completely helpless as Cox began to initiate sex; he said he was horrified but unable to resist. He said the assault was excruciatingly painful and went on through the night.

“At that point I was thinking all I wanted

to do was f----g die,” he testified.

In the morning, Cox dropped him back off at Safe Harbor.

He testified that Cox told him: “If you tell anyone, I will find out, and it won’t be good.”

Three nights later, the witness recounted his story to a state police trooper.

ON THE RUN FROM DEMONS Worden, of the Master Gardener Association of Northwest Michigan, said she doesn’t believe Cox was a monster who used the cloak of religion and volunteerism to hide a life of sexual predation. Rather, she sees him as a man who was running away from demons and a meth addiction.

The demons and the meth caught up, though.

Worden said she believes Cox wanted to be a good person and when he acted as a pastor or volunteered at a food drive, he was not acting.

“I understand … what often happens with meth addicts is it’s the smart ones who can’t recover, because they think they’re smart enough to outsmart the drug,” she said.

Worden said that over the period of Cox’s downfall, he went from being available around the clock to disappearing to the point that she had to track him down to his office on Garfield. She said that when Cox first moved into that office, he was energetic and proud of the do-it-yourself improvements he was making on the property, and that later she noticed that all of the reconstruction projects had stalled.

Around that same time Cox got back onto the radar of Trooper Rohrback, who months earlier had taken a complaint from someone who claimed they had been sexually assaulted by Cox. When Rohrback heard that another young man claimed he had been raped by Cox, he testified that he was eager to talk to the man.

“He named the same suspect, and I took it upon myself to pursue that individual, seek out his story, and the investigation continued from there,” Rohrback said at Cox’s preliminary hearing.

WHAT LIES IN HIS WAKE Among Cox’s many forays into volunteerism, he worked with TC Retreat, a sober living house for men in Traverse City. That partnership ended badly and in a lawsuit after he ignored requests to give up control of the organization’s website. Cox ultimately relented, and the lawsuit was settled after Cox’s arrest.

It is unclear what Cox’s intentions were in volunteering with TC Retreat, but if he was genuinely interested in helping others with addiction, Cox, in his secret life, fostered addiction among the vulnerable people he encountered.

There was a fourth witness at that preliminary hearing, an older man who first met Cox online and who had Cox over for an evening at his home in a small town in the Upper Peninsula. He decided he and Cox were not compatible, and after some partying, they parted ways amicably, the man said.

But in late 2018, when the man moved to Traverse City, temporarily, for work, he said he invited Cox to his hotel room and believes Cox gave him GHB. He said he suddenly could not move, and then Cox raped him, pushing his head into a pillow to muffle screams.

The man said before that night, he hadn’t used meth in a long time. He was trying to stay off of it. He’d been successful, and his career was going well. After that night, though, he said he smoked meth again. And he continued to smoke it.

He testified that day on loan from the Cheboygan County jail, where he was awaiting trial on possession of methamphetamine charges.

Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 11

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By Al Parker Carrie Hessler-Radelet came across her life’s passion more than 35 years ago during a stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in the island nation of Western Samoa, now known as Samoa.

“I was living with a host family, and the wife was a 32-year-old woman with eight children,” recalled Hessler-Radelet. “One day I came home, and she was just weeping and weeping. Turns out, she was pregnant with her ninth child.”

The family was a poor farming family, and life in the Polynesian village was already difficult. “She had delivered her other children on the floor of the house,” said Hessler-Radelet. “But I was hoping to convince her to visit a clinic.”

The woman’s husband was hesitant, but Hessler-Radelet earned his trust over several weeks. Late in the pregnancy, the woman had problems and was rushed to the clinic where she delivered a healthy child. “If she had remained home, she would have bled to death,” said Hessler-Radelet. “Her life was saved.”

That incident led Hessler-Radelet into a career in public health, one which saw her eventually become director of the Peace Corps from 2012 to 2015. Today she serves as president and CEO of Project Concern International (PCI), a global organization working with families and communities to enhance health, end hunger, and overcome hardship in 16 countries.

On Nov. 21, Hessler-Radelet will speak at the International Affairs Forum at Northwest Michigan College. Her talk, “Can One Individual Change the World,” is the last of IAF’s 2019 season.

TAPPING GLOBAL POTENTIAL Before she became CEO of PCI, HesslerRadelet had a 20-year career in international public health. As director of the Peace Corps, she oversaw the agency’s work in 65 countries around the world.

“Throughout my long career, I have met incredibly talented people from many nations and all walks of life,” she said. “There is so much talent residing in communities around the world, but it is often untapped because people don’t have the education, access to services or financial capital to be able to pursue their dreams or realize their vision for a better world.”

Talent, intellect and motivation are equally distributed around the world, but opportunity is not, according to HesslerRadelet.

“There is surely a young girl in Africa who is capable of being the next Bill Gates, if only given access to education and the opportunity to pursue her passion,” she said. “Somewhere in Latin America, there is a young boy, capable of leading with the compassion and humility of Nelson Mandela, if only given the opportunity to develop his potential. And in Asia, there is a child capable of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s commitment to justice and equality, if only given the opportunity to thrive intellectually.”

Hessler-Radelet believes in building leadership capacity by providing the education, training, tools and access to capital that allows individuals and communities to lift themselves out of poverty. “I found in PCI an organization that shares this vision and believes passionately and intentionally in investing in people as the surest pathway to sustainable development.”

PCI is an organization with a wide range of initiatives, but if there’s one project close to her heart, it’s the Women Empowered program, a global initiative dedicated to economically and social empowering women through the formation of self-

Can One Volunteer Change the World?

Frankfort’s own Carrie Hessler-Radelet — former director of the Peace Corps and current president and CEO of a global humanitarian nonprofit — says yes.

And she’s about to show you how.

managed and self-sustaining savings groups.

“Fifteen to 25 women work together in a group to save money, lend to each other, and conduct business together,” she said.

As a result, the women learn entrepreneurship and leadership skills. They even address social issues like domestic violence and HIV/AIDS. “They become powerful agents of transformational change in their communities,” said Hessler-Radelet.

“Globally more than 1 million women participate in Women Empowered, and they are changing the world, one community at a time.”

NO PLACE LIKE NORTHERN MICHIGAN Despite her resume as a world traveler and international health expert, HesslerRadelet has deep roots in northern Michigan.

“I grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, but my family spent part of every summer in Frankfort,” she explained. “My mother and her family have been coming to this area ever since the early 1940s, and northern Michigan has always been our family’s ‘true north.’ When I was 16, my family moved to Frankfort permanently. All of my siblings and their families still live in northern Michigan, and my husband and I have a house in Frankfort, so we get back as often as we can. Although I went away to college and have worked elsewhere ever since, Michigan is my heart home, and when asked, I always say I am from northern Michigan.”

Hessler-Radelet and her husband, Steve, try to spend six or seven weeks in Frankfort each summer.

“And we come every few months for a

long weekend during the rest of the year to see our family here,” she said. “I love everything about northern Michigan — Lake Michigan and the dunes, the wonderful small towns of Frankfort, Beulah, Leland, Traverse City and its great breweries — The Workshop is my favorite — and Interlochen.”

What does she see as the most critical health issue in northern Michigan?

“I’m very concerned about the opioid epidemic in northern Michigan,” she said.

“It’s a problem everywhere in the U.S. It’s an incredibly complex issue.”

Despite all the problems locally and in the world, Hessler-Radelt remains hopeful.

It isn’t blind optimism at work; her hope is borne of a career spent witnessing the immensely positive impact one person can have on many.

So what can attendees at her Nov. 21 International Affairs Forum event expect?

Inspiration to hope — and to act.

“Mostly I hope to share stories of remarkable leaders I’ve met throughout my career whose work is making a difference in the world,” she said.

Want to Make an Impact?

IAF’s “Can One Individual Change the World” event, with Carrie HesslerRadelet, begins at 6pm Nov. 21 at the Hagerty Center (715 East Front St.) in Traverse City. Tickets are free for students, $15 for the general public and available at the door.

PCI: The Positive Multiplier Founded in 1961, Project Concern International — headquartered in San Diego, with offices in Washington, D.C. — is the sum of many singular people effecting positive change for millions of others. It employs more than 900 people around the world, 83 percent of whom are host-country nationals. In 2018, PCI impacted the lives of 10 million people through projects like these: Health Last year, more than 1.4 million community members took part in peer/selfhelp groups to improve health and nutrition behaviors. PCI helped improve the well-being and health of more than 25,000 orphans and vulnerable children.

Food Security More than 18 million nutritious meals were served to 220,000 school children through PCI programs last year.

Disaster Relief In 2018, more than 930,000 people were helped by PCI relief efforts.

Gender-related Issues PCI is helping adolescent girls in Botswana and Malawi to develop into resilient, empowered women. Last year more than 85,000 new Women Empowered (WE) groups totaling 1 million members were formed to improve their lives, households, and communities.

Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 13

YOGA CLASS & THERAPY

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Mitch Albom to Talk Love and Loss in Traverse City

By Ross Boissoneau Mitch Albom returns to the National Writers Series on Nov. 17 for a discussion about what might be his most personal story.

“Finding Chika” is the tale of the Haitian orphan Chika Juene, how she came to live with Albom and his wife, Janine Sabino-Albom, and their quest for a cure for a childhood cancer.

Chika was one of dozens of children living at the orphanage Albom runs in Port-auPrince, Haiti, which he took over following the devastating earthquake that hit the Carribean country in January 2010. When Chika was struck with a medical ailment that couldn’t be treated in her home country, Albom brought her back to the U.S. for treatment.

She quickly became an integral part of the couple’s lives, and it wasn’t long before the three became a family. Unfortunately, Chika was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a brain tumor for which there is no known cure. After a two-year battle with the disease, Chika passed away, leaving a painful hole in the couple’s lives.

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WRITING THROUGH GRIEF Given that Albom’s debut novel, “Tuesdays with Morrie,” detailed the author’s relationship with his old college professor Morrie Schwartz, who was dying from ALS, Albom admitted he was leery about writing another story focusing on a loved one who dies. More difficult yet, this story posed an additional challenge: It would be focused on the loss of a child. He said there’s a natural aversion for readers that read a book where a child dies, so he tried to find a way to tell the story honestly without sugarcoating the sadness.

“I thought, ‘Let’s take all the horror out of it.’

I address it on the first page. I thought the best way was to have a conversation with her, keep her voice in it from the beginning,” he said.

That he does. The book features conversations between Albom and Chika, who appears in his office at odd times. He tells her her own story, but it doesn’t feel forced or odd. By writing much the book using dialogue between himself and Chika, the young girl comes alive for the reader.

Albom shares stories in the book familiar to most any parent: “If you nodded off in my arms, I’d hold you for a long time while Miss Janine stroked your hair. We’d nudge each other as you clapped for a movie or danced around the table without knowing we were watching.”

Albom steers clear of blame or despair, though the love he and his wife felt for Chika

and her place in their lives is obvious. “We didn’t lose a child, we were given one,” he said.

“Families can be made in many ways,” Albom said. “We were in our late 50s [when Chika arrived]. Chika was not part of our DNA, but she could not have been more of a daughter to us.”

“We were parents in grandparents’ bodies,” Sabine-Albom explained in an interview with AARP magazine. And she’s adamant that, when it comes to bringing a child into your life, age doesn’t matter. “We want to tell everyone that it’s never too late to open your heart, to love children, and to love each other.”

WRITER TO WRITER Albom’s on-stage conversation in Traverse City will happen with a fellow sports writer, Nick Edson, who will be the evening’s moderator. Edson spent the latter portion of his career at Cherryland Electric Cooperative, where among his many activities he wrote and edited the company’s Country Lines publication, but previously he served as the longtime sports editor of the Traverse City Record-Eagle. He was also two-time president of the Associated Press Sports Editors Association, and has won more than 30 writing awards from the Associated Press, United Press International, and the Michigan Press Association. He also was elected to the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Hall of Honor in 2004.

While proud of those professional accomplishments, Edson said his best work was serving on the boards of Rotary, YMCA, as chair for three years of the NMC Scholarship Open, and as a Big Brother for 14 years.

In retirement, he serves on the boards of Communities In Schools and Arts For All. “I’m honored to interview a writer like Mitch Albom,” said Edson. “We both started out in sports, and I’d like to think that we both saw how valuable it was to write about the people involved in sports — not just the games themselves.

“Mitch has become an icon in the writing business, and my role as an interviewer will be to ask questions that help take our audience behind the scenes in his creative process,” Edson said. “I think it will be an enlightening evening for all of us.”

Albom concurred with Edson’s sentiment. “[My writing] hasn’t changed that much. I tell stories, and I write about people,” he said.

Mitch Albom will take the stage at 7pm Nov. 17 at the City Opera House in Traverse City as part of the National Writers Series. Tickets sold out just before press-time, but fans can watch www. nationalwritersseries.org to hear a recording of the show.

By Lynda Wheatley Let’s be honest. The next six weeks are all about giving — giving gifts to your parents, your kids, your kid’s teacher, a Secret Santa, maybe your mail guy.

Somewhere in there, you’re going to give a big dinner. And because you live Up North, you’ll probably give up a bedroom, or at the very least, a pull-out couch, to some overnighting out-of-towner. You’re going to drop change in a red bucket, buy a toy for a tot, write a check to a nonprofit, and hand off countless bottles of wine to a series of hosts. You’re going to give your time, your money, and your energy in a dozen different ways — all of them worthwhile; none of them for you.

That’s why, in this brief window between giving candy and giving your all, we suggest you pre-tip the scales a bit. Take advantage of the milquetoast time that is mid-November’s literal gray area and do a little something — or, more heartily recommended, a whole lot of somethings — for yourself. Here, a few of the latest indulgences we love, newly available Up North:

GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF …

LIQUID GOLD

Turns out, bottling sunshine is possible.

And before you bestow a bottle of it on anyone else this season, gift one to yourself.

Shady Lane Cellars’ Pomeranz is one of our favorites of the orange wine that’s swept the North’s wine regions this autumn. (To be fair, Shady Lane was at the forefront, selling Pomeranz since 2016.) If you aren’t yet familiar, a quick lesson: Orange wine is not wine made from oranges, but rather, wine made from white grapes that are fermented with skins on, much like red wine, to extract color and tannins. Shady Lane Cellars Winemaker Kasey Wierzba’s 2017 version is far more bold than its soft amber glow would suggest. Aromas of apricot and orange peel uplift the heft of raw honey, white tea, and other earthy notes, waltzing over the tongue with a surprisingly dry but heavily textured step. Shady Lane’s rep tells us it pairs well with just about anything, but we find it goes best — served slightly chilled — with a good book and a warm fire. $26, www. shadylanecellars.com.

TIME

Shipt, InstaCart, and Amazon Prime all have their place, but let’s face it: Sometimes you need a plate of Apache Trout Grill’s Pecan Crusted Whitefish in your face tonight. And a new taillight for your car. The dog is out of food. And your car isn’t big enough to haul six 8-foot planks of pine board home.

That’s where Gimme A List Errand Services — serving Interlochen, Lake Ann, Honor, Grawn, Buckley, Kingsley, Karlin, Acme, Williamsburg, and Traverse City — comes in. The newly launched and independently owned Interlochen-based errand service not only offers grocery shopping and delivery but also pick up and delivery from restaurants, pharmacies, pet stores, dry cleaners; office supply, auto parts, and hardware stores; and lumber yards. Delivery is just $25 for up to $150 worth of receipts, and additional stops add just $5 each. Restaurant pick-ups are cheap — 15 percent of your total bill, plus $6 for delivery up to 12 miles from the restaurant, then $.50 per additional mile.

The best part: There’s no minimum order requirements, no annual fee, and no price hikes on purchases. Day-of deliveries are possible Monday through Friday, 9am–7pm, and emergency and weekend deliveries are accommodated whenever possible. Bonus: Veterans, seniors, and active military enjoy a 10 percent discount. Search “Gimme a List Errand Services” on Facebook, www. wegoshop.com/53-gimmealist.html, or call (231) 640-0370.

YOUTH

Mushrooms that work magic on your face? Believe it. Western skincare’s new (and the Far East’s longtime) “It” ingredient, mushrooms — rich with anti-inflammatory properties, vitamin D, selenium, and antioxidants — are gaining popularity for their demonstrable success with wrinkles, discoloration, acne, rosacea and eczema.

Crystal Mountain’s Crystal Spa has gone all in, and then some, on this fungus-for-

the-face trend. Its Organic Oxygen Facial brings the heat with a detoxifying organic blueberry peel and a to-die-for Hungarian facial massage, then some heavy lifting from its Intraceuticals Oxygen Machine paired with a low-weight hyaluronic acid. Together, the latter creates a hyperbaric bubble of pure oxygen on the skin, one that spa manager Gretchen Schnell tells us sanitizes, penetrates the dermis, and deeply, deeply hydrates. After the infusion, the shroomy side of the popular Eminence line is brought in to ensure your skin absorbs and retains its clean and supple goodness with snow mushrooms, birch water, Reishi mushrooms, and botanical collagen, plus some superhydrating Mushroom Cloud Eye Cream.

What all this gets you: a visibly lifted and toned appearance — eye bags included — and a noticeably refreshed-looking you, no acne lying in wait. We think that’s priceless; Crystal Spa tags it at $235 for 50 minutes or $295 for 80 minutes. (800) 968-7686, www. crystalmountain.com

PUPPY LOVE

You know how you want to feel like you’ve gone out but don’t actually want to leave the house? Consider the Hoppy Hound Coffee Co. in downtown Boyne City your home away from home. The newly opened hot spot next to Outdoor Beerdsman will not only marry three exceptional indulgences in one spot — baked goods, coffee (from Leelanau Coffee Roasting Co.), and liquor (from Long Road Distillers’ in-house tasting room) — it also welcomes your best friend and significant other, your dog. Seriously. A special, super cozy dog lounge where you and Fido can

curl up and hang out on someone else’s sofa is reality here, as are specially made “Fancy” dog treats for him, and treats like a Hazlemutt cold brew, Mocha Java da Mutt frappucino, and much more for you. Find it at 120 Water St. or search “Hoppy Hound Coffee Co.” on Facebook. (231) 497-6488

WELLNESS

Typically the not-so-secret weapon of emergency rooms and Hollywood celebs, intravenous therapies — different combos of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids delivered via an IV drip or shot, for immediate symptom relief and enhanced health — have arrived in northern Michigan by way of RevIVe Hydration Wellness and IV Spa in Traverse City. Whether you have a nasty hangover, jet lag, a migraine, a cold or flu, or simply want to lose weight, age slower, look fabulous, or dominate in your next race, it works like this: You choose your drip or injection accordingly, walk in (or schedule an appointment) at the spa, fill out a waiver, then sit in a recliner. A registered nurse, overseen by a board-certified physician, will review your health history, then administer your shot or hook you up to a drip for up to 45 minutes. Too weak (read: hungover) to get there? For $50 more, RevIVe offers a concierge service that sends the nurse to you. Mini drips start at $89; full drips are $129+. Monthly memberships; weight loss, wedding-prep and bachelor-/bachelorette-party-recovery packages, and Ketamine therapies are also available. Learn more or make an online appointment at www.revivedhydration.com, or text or call (231) 645-9123.

Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 15

Downtown

Petoskey

Holiday Events Ladies Opening Night Friday, November 15

Shop for BAGS over BUCKS and SCOPE out Downtown Petoskey for your Holiday Wish List!

Stafford’’s Downtown Petoskey Holiday Parade Saturday, November 30 Holiday spirit will be coming your way during the Stafford’s Downtown Petoskey Holiday Parade featuring a NEW theme and NEW time. Join us at 6 pm to “Light Up The Night”!

Holiday Open House Friday, December 6 The regions premier holiday event! www.PetoskeyDowntown.com

30% OFF

New Year,

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Invisalign for adults and teens.

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Experience the Schulz Ortho Difference 231-929-3200 | SCHULZORTHO.COM Invisalign and custom esthetic braces treatment. Call for free consultation.

16 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

Complete Pair of Eyeglasses

Buy now and Save! Purchase a complete pair of prescription eyeglasses or sunglasses and receive 30% off. Current eyeglass prescription is required.

This offer includes designer frames and prescription sunglasses. *some restrictions apply see store for details. Offer also valid at Midland and Mt Pleasant locations.

you’re invited!

SMALL WORKS Holiday Exhibition Nov 15 – Dec 18, 2019 Original artwork at $150 and less

THREE FREE EVENTS! FIRST-LOOK RECEPTION: Nov 15 | 6 - 8 pm THANKS & GRATITUDE…a talk Nov 24 | 2 pm HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE: Dec 5 | 4 - 6 pm

ZOE CHEN, Grade 12, Lynnfield High School, Lynnfield, MA, Pulling Tight, 2019, Gold, Medal, New York Life Award, Drawing and Illustration

“We know children are not always able to verbalize grief.

But they can through the arts,” said Mindy Buell, executive director of Michael’s Place. “There’s no cookie-cutter way to express it. Some do it verbally, other through dance, painting, drawing. We need to have different outlets.” Sean O’Brien, pictured above, isone of the local musicians participating in the Nov. 13 event. He turned to music and Michael’s Place after witnessing a car accident that took his grandmother’s life. Both outlets provide life-changing, he said.

The Art of Mourning Bereaved kids bring their insides out in interactive arts event

By Ross Boissoneau You might not know that November is National Children’s Grief Month. But chances are good that you’ve known grief.

In honor of the kids and teens who know it all too well, Traverse City’s grief support center, Michael’s Place, is teaming up with The Dennos Museum Center to present an extraordinary multi-media event created almost entirely by bereaved youth.

The interactive presentation is far more than an exhibit; it will include live music, dance, a panel discussion, and presentations of both local and national artists and writers.

LOCAL KIDS Sean O’Brien will be one of the musicians participating, and he will also be part of the panel. He was eight years old when he witnessed an auto accident that took the life of his grandmother. He and his family sought the assistance of Michael’s Place. “I went to Michael’s Place for six or eight years, to my mid-teens,” he said.

He also turned to music, starting with percussion, and later adding guitar and piano, as well as singing. “As a young boy, beating on my kit was a place to take out my frustration. As I grew up, I picked up other instruments,” he said. He then began to write his own music, and today aspires to a musical career.

Also performing will be Oliver Wood, the son of Elizabeth Judson, coordinator of the Michael’s Place Robin’s Nest, a program

that holds monthly activities designed to help grieving children “feel normal and smile again.” Wood, 16, is a longtime volunteer for Michael’s Place, as well as a working singer and actor who has performed in Chicago and local productions with Parallel 45, Interlochen, and other theater groups. He knows firsthand the impact that expressing one’s self through — or losing one’s self in — song, music, and theater can have, especially on youth.

“People can talk to kids, and they’re heard a bit,” he said. “But if someone sings, it will stick with them.”

WHY GO? But if you’re not a bereaved youth, and don’t know one, why attend? Because participants and attendees will have the opportunity to bear witness to the experiences of grief, create conversation around the needs of bereaved youth in our region, and learn about the impact of grief on childhood and beyond, said Michael’s Place Executive Director Mindy Buell.

“We’ve learned a lot about childhood grief and want to share it with the community,” Buell said. Michael’s Place has been working with both adults and youths experiencing loss for 18 years; last year, it provided grief support services — at no cost — to 1,700 individuals in the community.

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests there are clear indications that artistic engagement has significant positive effects on health.

LET’S TALK LOSS While the expression of the arts will be a focus of the event, there will also be a panel discussion. O’Brien, who will be among those participating, said he’s happy to share with the public what he gained from his time at Michael’s Place. “It was a big thing to me, as a child, and into my teen years, dealing with that traumatic loss. It was just a blessing,” he said.

Buell said O’Brien’s story is one she believes will resonate with others. “Sean returned a couple years ago to tell us what a difference Michael’s Place made in his life. We feel fortunate to have been able to work with grieving youth and to see them smile again and find their new life. It’s a privilege to see them begin to start the healing process.”

This multi-media event also includes a special exhibit of nationally recognized works from “Healing Through Creativity: Selections from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards,” in partnership with New York Life Foundation. Teens from across the United States submitted their creative work to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards’ New York Life Award, which recognizes the stories of young people and their experiences with losing a loved one.

Following the Nov. 13 event, the exhibit will continue to be on display at Michael’s Place (1212 Veterans Dr., in Traverse City) through November. Learn more: (231) 947-6453, www.mymichaelsplace.net.

Shop for local art and enjoy the holiday music of the Central United Methodist Hand Bell Choir—plus cocoa, mulled wine, festive cookies, and fun, family crafts!

GlenArborArt.org for details 6031 S. Lake Street

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Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 17

Meaningful Music from Kittel & Co.

By Kristi Kates

Buy a $50 gift card and Fill Back Packs for Kids Happy Holidays!!

Traverse City Area Public Schools

Great Community, Great Schools

For every $50 gift card purchased, 4GR8Food Brands will donate $5 to Traverse City Public Schools.

Thank you for filling back packs for kids in our community!

Gift cards can be purchased in stores or online at 4gr8food.com

If you’re a music fan living in Michigan, chances are good you’ve heard of Jeremy Kittel. Originally hailing from Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Grammy-nominated composer and musician — aka violin, fiddle, and viola master — is a force to be reckoned with, and not just in one category of music.

The breadth of peers he’s worked with reflects that: Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Jon Batiste, Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Paquito D’Rivera, and even indie-rock bands like Fleet Foxes and Jars of Clay.

Most recently, Kittel spent five years out on the West Coast, playing viola with The Turtle Island Quartet, a hybrid strings outfit that mashes up classical, jazz, and rock. That kind of latitude in music-making is something that’s long appealed to Kittel, so naturally it’s an approach he’s taking with his own band project, Kittel & Co., which will perform Friday, Nov. 15, at Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey, as part of the Blissfest Music Organization’s Roots Music Concert Series.

WORLD ON A STRING Kittel relocated to Brooklyn, New York, after attending grad school at the Manhattan School of Music, where he devoted his studies to his primary instrument, the violin, and its connection to so many different types of music and cultures. He also found Brooklyn the perfect place to reboot his own music after his west coast work with the Turtle Island group.

“Brooklyn is an awesome place to live,” Kittel said. “It’s just such a confluence of so many music scenes — pop, folk, classical, jazz.”

Part of the reason for his return east was to get back into the performing scene with a group of his own, so he started putting together a combo of musicians that he’s gotten to know over the past decade, handpicking them from different locations around the country based on past collaborations.

“Most of us have been playing music together in some form or another for 10 years or so,” he said. & COMPANY Guitarist Quinn Bachand joined from Alaska; bass player Ethan Jodziewicz was acquired in Nashville. Hammer-dulcimer artist Simon Chrisman came in from

18 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

Washington state, and mandolin player Josh Pinkham was plucked right from the New York City area. The band easily follows the mash-up approach Kittel has long embraced.

He said that it just “comes naturally” to him to write in a diverse mix of styles, so finding bandmates that could keep up with all the genre-blending was critical to his vision.

“The band is basically all unique string players of all different kinds,” Kittel said. “I wanted people with a good combination of folk music skills and jazz chops, the ability to play classical music, and an appreciation for pop music. There aren’t a lot of people around with that particular skill set.”

LISTEN The group released an album last year (2018’s Whorls), and from that album sprang a Grammy nomination for the track “Chrysalis” (for Best Instrumental Composition). While the nomination was an honor, Kittel doesn’t consider the recognition the best part of working with his current band.

“What’s most fun about this is to be in a band where the music feels really meaningful, playing with these wonderful musicians, watching the music go from a little spark of creative energy to a full song and performance,” he said.

Kittel & Co. have plenty of opportunities to perform coming up. They already have a busy schedule booked for next year, including a performance at New York City’s famed Kennedy Center and additional shows along the East Coast and in the Midwest.

Along the way, they’ll play Nova Scotia and a slate of festivals across the United States.

Their current trek — the one bringing them to Petoskey this week — will also include stops in Ohio, Chicago, Interlochen, and Kittel’s hometown of Ann Arbor. Despite the whirlwind of performance obligations, Kittel’s mind remains on the compositions themselves.

“It’s very important to me that, ultimately, it’s thrilling and meaningful music that we’re playing,” he said.

Kittel & Co., with special guest Royal Wood, will play the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey at 8pm Friday, Nov. 15. The show is a presentation of the Blissfest Music Organization’s Roots Music Concert Series.

For more information and tickets ($15 members; $20 non-members), call (231) 348-

Happy EVERY Day! Join us at the LOBBY BAR for Happy Hour every day of the week from 3 - 6pm, seven days a week.

Food specials. $3.50 bottled beer. $4.00 well cocktails or $6.00 house wines.

Live music Friday & Saturday evenings.

Hotel Indigo Traverse City 263 W. Grandview Parkway Traverse City, MI 49684 t: 231.932.0500 Reservations: 877.8.INDIGO (846.3446) hotelindigo.com/TraverseCityMI

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WINE DINNER Saturday, November 16

7pm-9pm | $69.30 per person Featuring Bowers Harbor Vineyards Join us for a special wine dinner event. Our culinary team will prepare a seasonal, five-course meal complemented with perfectly paired wines from Bowers Harbor Vineyards.

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Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 19

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NORTHERN SEEN 1. Chris and Julia Doyal wait for the talk with authors Alex and Nelson DeMille during the National Writers Series event at the City Opera House in TC. 2. Marilyn Lawerence greets author Nelson DeMille during the October National Writers Series event.

3. Jerry Charland, Brian Lea, Jaime Hal, Tricia Frey, and Paula Korndorfer enjoying the November Recess event at West Bay Beach in TC. 4. George, Teri, Christina and Patrick were the prize winners at the Traverse City Ticker’s most recent Recess event.

5. Carl and John, partners in crime at Recess.

Jonathan Simons makes cherry wood utensils with handsome color and grain— durable, smooth, and strong. His company, Jonathan’s Spoons, creates designs with the hand and purpose in mind.

“My father taught me that ideas come from the desire for usefulness. In all of my work I strive to balance tactile and aesthetic qualities with utility and purpose.”

In The Village at Grand Traverse Commons 231.932.0775 | sanctuary tc.com 20 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

nov 09

saturday

CIVILITY CHALLENGE: COMMUNITY MEAL: 5-7pm, Gilbert Lodge, Twin Lakes Park, TC. Presented by the TC Human Rights Commission.

Enjoy a meal of soup & bread where you will recap the week & facilitate table activities aimed at reviving civility & building community through shared values. Free roundtrip transportation by BATA with a pickup time of 4:30pm at Hall Street Station. Find on Facebook.

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HOLIDAY GALLERY CRAFT SHOW: 8am4pm, TC VFW Post. Find on Facebook.

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ANNUAL SKI SWAP & SALE: 9am-3pm, TC West Middle School. Hosted by the Grand Traverse Ski Club. Equipment drop off will be Fri., Nov. 8 from 6:30-8pm. Equipment pick up (of unsold items) & check disbursement is on Sat. from 5-8pm. Over 10,000 items, including downhill, cross country & snowboard equipment, ski racks, ice skates, roller blades, helmets & race suits will be available for purchase. Tickets will be given out beginning at 7am Sat. for those in line to enter the sale. All participants will be let in based on their ticket order. gtskiclub.org/ upcoming-events/events/annual-ski-swap

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HORIZON BOOKS, TC EVENTS: 9-10am: Poetry Workshop with Susan Griffiths. 12-2pm: Bruce Cameron will sign his book “A Dog’s Promise.” horizonbooks.com

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RUN VASA: 5K, 10K & 25K TRAIL RUN: 9am, Vasa Trail Head, TC. runvasa.com

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GOLDEN Z SHOPPING DAY - ZONTA FESTIVAL OF TREES: 10am-6pm, Golden-Fowler Home Furnishings, TC. Nine local nonprofit organizations will compete for your $1 votes through decorated holiday room displays & Christmas trees. Find on Facebook.

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HOLIDAY ART FAIR: 10am-4pm, East Jordan High School. Presented by the Jordan River Arts Council. Featuring more than 40 artists.

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INLAND TOWNSHIP FALL CRAFT SHOW: 10am-2pm, Inland Township Fire Barn, 19668 Honor Hwy., Interlochen. For info contact: inlandtwpevents@gmail.com

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SHOP YOUR COMMUNITY DAY: 10am-6pm, Downtown TC. Get all of your holiday shopping done in advance & a percentage of your purchase amount will be donated to the charity of your choice.

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SIXTH ANNUAL GREAT BEERD RUN: 10am, GT Resort & Spa, Acme. A 5K fun run that has beer tastings scattered throughout the course as well as at the start & finish lines. Featuring local beers from Beards Brewery, Short’s Brewing Co. & Right Brain Brewery. At the post-race party will be the Best Beard competition, with prizes for winners with both the Best Natural Beard & the Best Assisted Beard. Live music by The Broom Closet Boys. $40. thegreatbeerdrun.com

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TC CHILDREN’S BOOK FESTIVAL: 10am2pm, City Opera House, TC. Offering a sampling of books for the entire family from a variety of MI & national publishers. Local non-profits will provide fun, kid-friendly activities & crafts.

Proceeds benefit Born to Read. Includes the Sneak Preview Xavier Riddle Premiere with Curious George, the Old Town Playhouse Young Company, storyteller Jennifer Strauss, & the Sneak Peek of The Alphabet Experience.

Free. tcchildrensbookfestival.com

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CHARLEVOIX RESTAURANT WEEK: Nov. 3-9. Eat at your favorite local eateries & experience new restaurants & dishes at special prices. Each restaurant will have a unique menu for the week, as well as their regular menu. charlevoixrestaurantweek.com

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GAYLORD FALL RESTAURANT WEEK: Nov. 5-12. $15 lunch menus & $25 dinner menus at

participating restaurants. gaylordchamber.com/ restaurant-week

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november

PETOSKEY WINE REGION ANNUAL HARVEST STOMP!: Nov. 9-10. The Wineries of the Petoskey Wine Region. One ticket is good for two days. Enjoy delicious wines paired with small plates of homemade delights prepared by each of the 13 member wineries. $50. mynorthtickets.com/events/Harvest-STOMP-11--9-2019

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TC BEER WEEK: From Nov. 8-15 experience craft beer tastings, dinners & workshops. Get a pint or a sample, meet with brewers & brewery representatives & learn about the beer state of Michigan.

09-17 send your dates to: events@traverseticker.com

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BOOK SIGNING & BOARD GAMES: 12-2pm, Table 12 Coffee House & Christian Bookstore, TC. Meet Karin Beery, local author of “Practically Married.” Free. Find on Facebook.

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FLAPJACK AND FLANNEL FESTIVAL: Noon, The Little Fleet parking lot, TC. Presented by Create TC. Wear your flannel & drink brews paired with flapjacks. 10+ breweries, 30+ brews, live music by the Jonathan Timm Band, The Pocket & Pistil Whips, games & much more. General admission: Tickets include 2 drink tokens good for 2-8oz pours & one pancake. $30 tickets until Nov. 8; $35 day of. $10 kids ticket (non-alcoholic drink token & pancake). mynorthtickets.com

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FOLKLORE & S’MORES: 1-3pm, Grass River Natural Area, Bellaire. Hike along Grass River’s trails & discover mysterious plants & animals.

Hear tall tales of cures. Tell a story of your own back at the center around a campfire & make a S’more. $5. grassriver.org

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“THE LARK”: 2pm & 7:30pm, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Phoenix Theatre. This parable of faith, truth & religion recreates the trial of French war heroine Joan of Arc. Presented by the Interlochen Arts Academy Theatre Company. Leonard Bernstein’s incidental music will accompany the performance, performed by the Interlochen Arts Academy Chamber Singers. $19 full, $14 student. tickets.interlochen.org

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“WEST SIDE STORY”: 2pm & 7pm, TC Central High School Auditorium, TC. Presented by the TC Central High School Music Department. GA: $20; VIP: $25; students & senior citizens: $15. mynorthtickets.com

Internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble Windborne, who specializes in close harmony singing, shifting between different styles of traditional music, plays Sleder’s Family Tavern, TC on Sun., Nov. 17 at 5pm. Windborne is touring in support of their latest album, “Song on the Times,” a salute to the working class movements. $20 advance; $25 door. 947-9213.

Orchestra. Conductor’s pre-concert talk at 7pm.

Tickets at door. $10 adults; free for students.

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THE GORDON LIGHTFOOT TRIBUTE: 7:30pm, Cheboygan Opera House. The Tribute’s current tour, “The Songs, The Stories” replicates the songs, styles & moods of the Canadian singer-songwriter’s best through backstories & ironies of how & why Lightfoot wrote his most intimate compositions. 231-627-5841. $20 adults, $10 students, $15 veterans. Find on Facebook.

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THE PEDRITO MARTINEZ GROUP: 7:30pm, Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts, Manistee. Pedrito has recorded or performed with Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Paquito D’Rivera, Bruce Springsteen & Sting & has contributed, as a percussionist & vocalist, to over 50 albums. Mr. Martinez was a founding member of the Afro-Cuban/Afro-Beat band, Yerba Buena, & formed The Pedrito Martinez Group. $10-$25. mynorthtickets.com

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25TH ANNUAL LAMB’S RETREAT SONGWRITER CONCERT: 8pm, Birchwood Inn, Harbor Springs. Featuring Pierce Pettis, Joshua Davis, Julianne Ankley, Chris Buhalis & Olivia Millerschin. Hosted by John D. Lamb. 231-5262151. $15. springfed.org/songwriters

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“BANSHEE!” BOOK SIGNING WITH KIM RICHELLE: 4pm, Charlevoix Circle of Arts.

Book signing, reading, presentation, speakers & Q&A. Kim is an author of books & illustration in mythology. Free/donations. charlevoixcircle. org/banshee-book-signing CHALLENGE ISLAND FAMILY NIGHT: 6-8pm, Great Lakes Activity Room, Great Lakes Children’s Museum, TC. A fun family night of challenge activities designed to get everyone working together & cheering for their island tribe. $15 per family. greatlakeskids.org AMICAL’S COOKBOOK DINNER SERIES PRESENTS “PERU: THE COOKBOOK”: amical, TC. With 3 distinct land regions, the coast, the Andes Mountains, & the Amazon, Peruvian food has a wide variety of ingredients, flavors & aromas with tradition & history. Call 941-8888 for reservations. amical.com/peru

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BAYSIDE TRAVELLERS CONTRA DANCE: 7pm, 9191 Kasson St., Cedar. Basic Skills workshop at 7pm; dance at 7:30pm. Band will be Jig Lords. $11 adult, $7 student, $9 member. dancetc.com

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JEN SYGIT: 7:30pm, Red Sky Stage, Bay Harbor. This Lansing based singer/songwriter & multi-instrumentalist has released four solo albums with her latest record being “It’s About Time,” a journey through the landscape of Americana music. $15. mynorthtickets.com

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NIGHT LIGHTS: 7:30pm, Mt. Carmel Centre, Gaylord. Presented by the Gaylord Community

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nov 10

sunday

RECOVERY YOGA: 9:30am, Running Fit, downtown TC. A 50 minute, all-levels class designed to enhance recovery for your athletic performance.

Classes will build strength, flexibility, focusing on lengthening tight hamstrings, calves, quadriceps & hip flexors. Must register. Donation based class. eventbrite.com

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FESTI-FALL ART & CRAFT SHOW: 10am5pm, Grand Traverse Event Center, TC. Presented by West Bay Handmade. Free.

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GAYLORD FALL RESTAURANT WEEK: (See Sat., Nov. 9)

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PETOSKEY WINE REGION ANNUAL HARVEST STOMP!: (See Sat., Nov. 9)

TC BEER WEEK: (See Sat., Nov. 9)

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THE VILLAGE BRIDAL EXPO: 11am-4pm, Kirkbride Hall, The Village at GT Commons, TC. Featuring top wedding service providers. Register to win door prizes & the Ultimate Village Wedding Package valued at over $10,000. $5. thevillagetc.com/kirkbride-bridal-wedding-expo

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YOGA + BEER: 11am, Silver Spruce Brewing Co., TC. A one hour flow class. Bring your own mat.

Register. Donation based class. eventbrite.com

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FESTIVAL OF TREES: 12-4pm, Golden-Fowler Home Furnishings, TC. Family Day. Visit with Santa & Mrs. Claus, enjoy kids’ crafts, holiday treats & festive entertainment from Young Company Showstoppers. Nine local nonprofit organizations will compete for your $1 votes through decorated holiday room displays & Christmas trees. zontacluboftraversecity.org/festival-of-trees

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“WEST SIDE STORY”: 2pm, TC Central High School Auditorium, TC. Presented by the TC Central High School Music Department. GA: $20; VIP: $25; students & senior citizens: $15. mynorthtickets.com

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NORWAY, LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN: 2pm, Helena Township Community Center, Alden. This travelogue is presented by Tim & Sally Hannert & Dave & Jennie Schultz. 231331-4318. Free.

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AN AFTERNOON WITH AUTHOR JOSEPH HEYWOOD: 4pm, Mills Community House, Benzonia. Heywood’s bestselling Woods Cop mysteries are based on the lives of Upper Peninsula conservation officers. Free. Find on Facebook.

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AMICAL’S COOKBOOK DINNER SERIES PRESENTS “PERU: THE COOKBOOK”: (See Sat., Nov. 9)

nov 11

monday

TC TRACK CLUB VETERANS DAY RUN: 6:15am, Darrow Park, TC. Honor veterans at this annual run. Free.

Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 21

november

09-17 TUNE$44.99 UP SALE!

Ski or Snowboard Tune-up Special Includes: Stone grind, edge sharpen, hot wax and binding check (Bring a Boot) expires 11/24/2019

donorrskihaus.com • 946-8810 • 800-346-5788 • 890 Munson Ave. • Traverse City • 49686

FREE VETERANS DAY BREAKFAST: 8-10am, NCMC, Iron Horse Café, Petoskey.

Veterans & their family members are invited to enjoy a free breakfast served by NCMC students & employees.

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VETERANS DAY CEREMONIES AT NMC, TC: 8:30-9am: Breakfast for veterans in Dennos Museum. 9am: Campus community gathers along the sidewalk from the Dennos Museum to the flagpoles west of the Tanis Building for the Walk of Honor. 9:05am: Walk of Honor. 9:10am: Flag ceremony by VFW, Taps & the three-volley salute. 10am: Cake & coffee, Tanis Atrium.

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FREE HAIRCUTS FOR LOCAL VETERANS: 9am-9pm, Great Clips of Gaylord. On Nov. 11 veterans & active service members can go into any U.S. Great Clips salon & get either a free haircut or a free haircut card to use later.

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GAYLORD FALL RESTAURANT WEEK: (See Sat., Nov. 9)

-------------------TC BEER WEEK: (See Sat., Nov. 9) --------------------

“HONORING OUR LOCAL HEROES”: Noon, Eagles Club Banquet Hall, Gaylord. Presented by the Message of Thanks Committee. RSVP: 989217-0399. Veterans, free; guests, $5 (limit one).

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RIDE OR RUN FOR BEER: 5-7pm. Choose between a 3 or 5 mile run led by Running Fit of TC & a bike ride through Hickory Hills area led

by Hagerty Cycling Team. Afterwards you will be treated to 50% off beer tickets at the Blue Tractor. Find on Facebook.

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FOOD AS MEDICINE: EMPOWERING THE ALLIANCE OF FOOD, SOIL & HEALTH: 6pm, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse, TC. Featuring Katherine Palms, a representative of PBLTC; Dr. Dave Johnson, cardiologist at Sleeping Bear Natural Health; & Loghan & Naomi Call of Planted Cuisine and Alchemy Farms. Enjoy a potluck meal. $5. eventbrite.com

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SOUP & BREAD FOR THE CHERRYLAND HUMANE SOCIETY: 6pm, The Little Fleet, TC. A monthly local charity event during the winter months. Area chefs bring soup, a local bakery makes the bread, & folks pay what they can for the charity or non-profit of the month. Donation based. Find on Facebook.

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GT HUMANISTS MEETING: THE ACLU’S SMART JUSTICE CAMPAIGN: 7pm, Traverse Area District Library, TC. GT Humanists welcome Anna Dituri of the ACLU, who will present ways to improve MI’s criminal justice system, with a focus on what’s going on in our own area. Free. gthumanists.org

nov 12

tuesday

GREAT LAKES SERIES: Join Dianna Stampfler as she discusses her recently released book, “Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses,” which is a culmination of nearly 20 years of research, writing & presenting on these historic beacons of the mitten state. 6:308pm, Charlevoix Public Library.

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GAYLORD FALL RESTAURANT WEEK: (See Sat., Nov. 9)

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GET CRAFTY: Great Lakes Children’s Museum, TC. Indian Corn Print: Print dots to make Indian corn to hang up for a fall door decoration. Held from 11am-noon & 2-3pm. greatlakeskids.org

-------------------TC BEER WEEK: (See Sat., Nov. 9) --------------------

CONNECTING WOMEN LUNCHEON: 11:30am, Otsego Grand Event Center, Gaylord. Empowering Women in STEM. gaylordmi.chambermaster. com/eventregistration/register/2654

-------------------22 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

FRIENDLY GARDEN CLUB MEETING: Church of The Living God, TC. Lunch at

11:30am; program at 12:15pm. Free. thefriendlygardenclub.org

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AAUW NOVEMBER MEETING PROGRAM: 5:30pm, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, TC. Speakers will be Constanza Hazelwood, coordinator of programs, NMC Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, & Sarah U’Ren, program director, Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay. Free. aauwtc.org

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CITIZENS’ CLIMATE LOBBY MEETING: 6pm, Central United Methodist Church, third floor, TC. If you’re new to CCL, please arrive at 5:45pm to learn about advocacy for national policies to address climate change. 231-4996747. citizensclimatelobby.org

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DETOX YOGA FLOW AT PRESS ON JUICE!: 6:45pm, Press On Juice Cafe, TC. This one hour class involves a lot of twists & poses that are focused to help eliminate toxins from the body through movement & breath. Bring your own mat. Must sign up on Eventbrite.com to reserve spot. 944-5694. Donation.

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PETOSKEY AUDUBON PROGRAM: 7pm, Northern Lights Recreation Center, Harbor Springs. Mother & son, Kathy Lawson & Darrell Lawson, will share a photographic travelogue of their 16 day, 15 flight adventure through Alaska & northern Washington. Free. petoskeyaudubon.org

nov 13

wednesday

TC BEER WEEK: (See Sat., Nov. 9)

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GAYLORD BUSINESS AFTER HOURS: 5-7pm, Snowbelt Brewing Company, Gaylord. Wear your camo or hunter orange for an exclusive prize entry.

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MICHIGAN - MICHIGAN STATE CRYING TOWEL PEP RALLY: 6pm, City Park Grill, Petoskey. Sponsored by both schools’ local alumni groups. Features a divided room & time for those wishing to “whine” or give a jab. Includes a tailgate buffet, cash bar, door prizes & a special raffle. There also will be prizes for the “Best Loyally Dressed.” Register in advance: 231-547-2728. $20.

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RESETTING EXPECTATIONS: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SESSION ON THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION & PUBLIC HEALTH: 6-8pm, Traverse Area District Library, TC. Presented by FLOW. Register. Free. eventbrite.com

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THE ART OF: MOURNING - EXPRESSIONS OF YOUTH: Dennos Museum Center, NMC, TC. Doors open at 6pm; program: 6:30-8pm.

Presented by Michael’s Place. This multi-media, interactive presentation & panel discussion will feature the works of bereaved youth with a focus on the expressions of local youth though: Writing & Storytelling Music & Performing Arts, Visual Arts. The event will include an exhibit of nationally recognized works from Healing Through Creativity: Selections from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, in partnership with the New York Life Foundation. Free. mymichaelsplace.net/ the-art-of-mourning-expressions-of-youth

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PETOSKEY FILM SERIES: 7:30pm, Petoskey District Library, Carnegie Building. Featuring “The Peanut Butter Falcon.” Donations appreciated. facebook.com/petoskeyfilm

nov 14

thursday

INTERACTIVE STORYTIME: 11am, Great Lakes Children’s Museum, TC. Featuring “Time to Sleep” by Denise Fleming, followed by a craft or activity. greatlakeskids.org

-------------------TC BEER WEEK: (See Sat., Nov. 9)

au 23

NAVIGATING ICE SAFELY & WINTER ARTHRITIS: 12:30pm, Golden Fellowship Hall, Interlochen. Join Beth Dole & Fyzical Therapy & Balance Centers to learn tips to safely navigate winter ice. Beth will also show easy exercises that can help ease stiff joints due to winter weather.

Optional lunch served at noon. $3 suggested donation for lunch for those 60 & over; $5 all others.

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GRAND TRAVERSE MUSICALE PROGRAM: 1pm, First Congregational Church, TC. Featuring Meredith Parsons McComb on piano & voice. Free; donations welcome.

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SEEDS HAPPY HOUR FUNDRAISER: 5-7pm, The Little Fleet, TC. Complimentary drinks. Donate what you can, & The Little Fleet will match the bar tab. Youth activities in the Yurt. Featuring a pop-up exhibit of the K12 Clean Energy Art Challenge. www.ecoseeds.org

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INDIE LENS POP-UP: “THE FIRST RAINBOW COALITION”: 7pm, Dennos Museum Center, NMC, TC. A discussion with community leaders & scholars will follow the film. Free. dennosmuseum.org/events/films.html

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ARTISTS FROM INTERLOCHEN AT KIRKBRIDE HALL: 7:30pm, Kirkbride Hall, The Village at GT Commons, TC. Trombonist Thomas Riccobono, hornist Corbin Wagner & trumpeter Ken Larson unite for a program of solo & ensemble music. $26 full, $14 student. tickets. interlochen.org

nov 15

friday

LADIES OPENING NIGHT: 5-10pm, downtown Petoskey.

Enjoy shopping, Doe Camp at Stafford’s Perry Hotel to win prizes off the buck pole, & more.

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RIVERTOWN JAZZ BAND: 7-9pm, Red Sky Stage, Bay Harbor. This band is dedicated to the performance & preservation of traditional, New Orleans style jazz. $15. mynorthtickets.com

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DISCOVER WITH ME: 10am-noon, Great Lakes Children’s Museum, TC. Big Moves with Me: Bean Bag Fun. Toss a bag in games designed with toddlers in mind. Fill a turkey bean bag to take home. greatlakeskids.org

-------------------TC BEER WEEK: (See Sat., Nov. 9) --------------------

LUNCHEON LECTURE: FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION: NCMC, Library Conference Center, Petoskey. This international competition involves hands-on robotics challenges for students in grades K-12. Lunch at 11:30am; program at noon. FIRST Robotics combines the excitement of sports with the rigors of science, technology, engineering & math. Reservations required. 231-348-6600. $12; includes lunch.

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NORTH VS. SOUTH BREWERY BATTLE: 6-8pm, GT Resort & Spa, Aerie Lounge, Acme.

Featuring Short’s Brewing Co. & Greenbush Brewing Co. Enjoy six battle stations with brews from each brewery & food to pair. Brewery representatives will be present. Guests will choose the winner by voting once at each station. $25. mynorthtickets.com

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“FIDDLER ON THE ROOF”: 7-10pm, TC West Senior High School. Presented by TC West Vocal Department. $15-$25. mynorthtickets.com

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“WEST SIDE STORY”: 7pm, TC Central High School Auditorium, TC. Presented by the TC Central High School Music Department. GA: $20; VIP: $25; students & senior citizens: $15. mynorthtickets.com

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SWINGSHIFT AND THE STARS: 7pm, City Opera House, TC. Dancing competition for local nonprofits, live swing band, desserts & coffee.

Nonprofits benefitting: Bethany, Single MOMM, Spark in the Dark, Upbound at Work, Communities in Schools, Norte, Traverse City Christian

School, TC Tritons Rowing. $25 & up. swingshiftandthestars.org

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“ELF THE MUSICAL”: 7:30pm, Old Town Playhouse, TC. Adults: $28; youth: $15 (plus fees). mynorthtickets.com

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ELK RAPIDS PLAYERS PRESENT “GUYS AND DOLLS”: 7:30pm, HERTH Hall, Elk Rapids. $16 GA; $13 seniors; $10 students. ertownhall.org/er-players.html

-------------------PETOSKEY FILM SERIES: (See Weds., Nov. 13) -------------------ROALD DAHL’S “MATILDA THE MUSICAL,” ARTS ACADEMY THEATRE CO.: 7:30pm, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Harvey Theatre.

Inspired by Roald Dahl’s novel, “Matilda The Musical” follows the heroine as she uses her imagination, intelligence & psychokinetic powers to build a better world for herself & her peers. $21 full, $14 student. tickets.interlochen.org

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AN UNFORGETTABLE NAT KING COLE CHRISTMAS: 8pm, Odawa Casino, Petoskey.

Starring Evan Tyrone Martin. $20. odawacasino.com

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CHE APALACHE: 8pm, Dennos Museum Center, Milliken Auditorium, NMC, TC. A fourman string band based in Buenos Aires with members from Argentina, Mexico & the United States. Before the show, ticket holders can visit the museum. Afterwards, meet the artists & enjoy light refreshments. $25-$32. mynorthtickets. com/events/Che-Apalache-11-15-2019

nov 16

saturday

AUSTRALIA’S THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER: 8pm, Little River Casino Resort, Manistee. Tickets: $25, $35, $40. lrcr.com

-------------

116 Waukazoo Street - Northport - 231.386.1061 - tuckersnp.com

LADIES NIGHT OUT: 5-9pm, downtown Harbor Springs. Enjoy sales, restaurant specials, live music & more.

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ANGELA PREDHOMME: This singer/songwriter’s credits include the Hallmark movie “Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane,” Lifetime’s hit show “Dance Moms,” Freeform’s “Switched at Birth,” & more. 7:30pm, Red Sky Stage, Bay Harbor. $15. mynorthtickets.com

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HORIZON BOOKS, TC EVENTS: 9-10am: Poetry Workshop led by Susan Griffiths. 10amnoon: Veteran’s for Peace Meeting & Poetry Writing Group. horizonbooks.com/event

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WOODCREEK COMMUNITY HOLIDAY ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW: 9am-4pm, 501 Woodcreek Blvd., TC.

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YOGA FOR EVERY BODY: 9am, 812 S. Garfield Ave., Suite K, TC. Donation based class. eventbrite.com

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BENZIE COUNTY DEMOCRATS: 9:30am, Benzie County Democratic Party Headquarters, 9930 Honor Hwy., Honor. Coffee klatch, Traverse City ACLU’s Anna Dituri, plus update on participating in post-Prop 3 redistricting project.

Free. benziedemocrats.com

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2019 KAIR FESTIVAL OF TREES: Northland Plaza, Kalkaska. Featuring 35 decorated trees in sizes ranging from 2 feet to 8 feet in all colors & themes. There will also be a raffle, Santa & live music by Patty Cox. Hours are 10am-3pm on Sat., Nov. 16 & Sun., Nov. 24; & 10am-7pm on Nov. 17-23. 231-350-5114. Free.

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5TH ANNUAL ARTS & CRAFTS FAIR: 10am3pm, MediLodge of Leelanau, Suttons Bay. 231-271-1200. Free. Find on Facebook.

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ART & CRAFT SHOW: 10am-4pm, TC West Senior High School.

Join us for a

Thanksgiving

Buffet

NOVEMBER 28th 11AM - 4PM $32.95 for adults $16.95 for children 12 and under

Live Music with “Jeff Haas Trio” from 12pm - 3:30PM Call (231) 947-3700 ex122 for Reservations westbaybeachresorttraversecity.com

Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 23

BOOK HUNTERS BOOK SALE: 10am-4pm, Book House, behind the Manistee County Library. Presented by the Friends of the Manistee County Library.

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DEER WIDOWS VENDOR & CRAFT FAIR: 10am-4pm, 18483 Cadillac Hwy., Copemish.

Benefits the Read-Osborne American Legion 531 Auxiliary. 231-357-2775. Free admission. facebook.com/events/1183325968528049

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DEER WIDOWS WEEKEND & WOMEN’S EXPO: The Village at GT Commons, TC. The Women’s Expo in Kirkbride Hall takes place today from 12-3pm. The first 250 ladies through the door will receive a swag bag filled with goodies & coupons to shop throughout the Mercato. An indoor farmers market will run from 10am-2pm. Find on Facebook.

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TRAVERSE CITY SHOP & SIP HOLIDAY CRAFT MARKET: GT Resort & Spa, Acme. VIP Preview: 1-3pm. Open to all: 3-7pm. 75+ vendors, Tarot readers & more. tcshopandsip.com

-------------------“WEST SIDE STORY”: (See Sun., Nov. 10) --------------------

ARTISAN HOLIDAY MARKET OPENING: 2-5pm, Tinker Studio, TC. Featuring hand-crafted items from 10 local artisans. 231-223-4019.

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NEWBERY AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR LYNNE RAE PERKINS: 2pm, Dog Ears Books, Northport. Lynee Rae will sign her latest children’s book, “Wintercake.” Find on Facebook.

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ROALD DAHL’S “MATILDA THE MUSICAL,” ARTS ACADEMY THEATRE CO.: 2pm & 7:30pm, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Harvey Theatre. Inspired by Roald Dahl’s novel, “Matilda The Musical” follows the heroine as she uses her imagination, intelligence & psychokinetic powers to build a better world for herself & her peers. $21 full, $14 student. tickets.interlochen.org

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“THE LESSON OF THE LARK”: A READING WITH LAURA KNIGHT COBB: 3pm, Elk Rapids District Library. In rich prose, author, lyricist & poet Laura Knight Cobb celebrates the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment with her new book “The Lesson of the Lark.” Free. elkrapidslibrary.org

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13TH ANNUAL POWER OF THE PURSE: Otsego Resort, Gaylord. Presented by Otsego County United Way. Cocktails & check in at 5pm. Chefs choice small plates, desserts & wine. Bid on your favorite male waiter. Live & silent auctions. Live music by Acoustic Bonzo.

989-732-8929. $50. eventbrite.com

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3RD ANNUAL CHILI COOK OFF: 5-7pm, Townline Ciderworks, Williamsburg. Chili tastes will be by donation & prizes will be awarded to chilis with the most votes.

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CHALLENGE ISLAND - KIDS NIGHT OUT: AUTUMN OWL PROWL: 6-9pm, Great Lakes Children’s Museum, TC. Learn about MI owls & build owl ziplines for your owl to keep an eye on the critters below. Kids will receive all 5 aspects of STEAM, plus more. greatlakeskids.org

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HARBOR SPRINGS LADIES’ NIGHT OUT: Participating shops will be handing out “passports” from 6-9pm. Shoppers will collect signatures on their passports when making purchases. Passports can be exchanged for raffle tickets at The New York Restaurant starting at 8:30pm, with prize drawings at 9:30pm.

-------------------“FIDDLER ON THE ROOF”: (See Fri., Nov. 15) -------------------“WEST SIDE STORY”: (See Fri., Nov. 15) -------------------“ELF THE MUSICAL”: (See Fri., Nov. 15) --------------------

ELK RAPIDS PLAYERS PRESENT “GUYS AND DOLLS”: (See Fri., Nov. 15)

--------------------

KITTEL & CO.: 7:30pm, Interlochen Center for

the Arts, Corson Auditorium. Led by Grammy Award-winning violinist Jeremy Kittel, this string quintet blends Celtic, bluegrass, jazz, folk & classical music. They just released their debut album, “Whorls.” $36 platinum, $31 gold, $28 silver. tickets.interlochen.org

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COSMIC SATURDAY: LEONID METEOR SHOWER: 8pm, Headlands International Dark Sky Park, Mackinaw City. Join the Headlands International Dark Sky Park staff & the Northern Michigan Astronomy Club to watch & learn about the Leonid Meteor Shower. An observation night (weather permitting) will be held after the presentation. $5/person. Find on Facebook.

nov 17

sunday

2019 KAIR FESTIVAL OF TREES: (See Sat., Nov. 16)

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DEER WIDOWS WEEKEND: 12-3pm, The Village at GT Commons, TC. Today features mini tunnel tours. Find on Facebook.

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THIRD SUNDAY ART PROJECT: 1-4pm, Dennos Museum Center, NMC, TC. Using fabric & other materials, collage your way to a unique artwork to hang on your wall or give to a loved one. dennosmuseum.org

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“ELF THE MUSICAL”: 2pm, Old Town Playhouse, TC. Adults: $28; youth: $15 (plus fees). mynorthtickets.com

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“FIDDLER ON THE ROOF”: 2-5pm, TC West Senior High School. Presented by TC West Vocal Department. $15-$25. mynorthtickets.com

-------------------“WEST SIDE STORY”: (See Sun., Nov. 10) --------------------

ELK RAPIDS PLAYERS PRESENT “GUYS AND DOLLS”: 3pm, HERTH Hall, Elk Rapids. $16 GA; $13 seniors; $10 students. ertownhall. org/er-players.html

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WINDBORNE: 5pm, Sleder’s Family Tavern, TC. An internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble who specializes in close harmony singing, shifting between different styles of traditional music. Windborne is touring in support of their latest album, “Song on the Times,” a salute to the working class movements. 947-9213. $20 advance; $25 door.

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NATIONAL WRITERS SERIES: 7pm, City Opera House, TC. A love story transcending life itself. Featuring Mitch Albom, author of “Finding Chika: A Little Girl.” $35, $50. nationalwritersseries.org

helping hands

PLAY FOR PAWS: Runs through Dec. 16 & benefits the Cherryland Humane Society. Please bring toys, food, treats, beds, bowls, old towels & blankets to Premonitions Pizza & Arcade, 100 A Cedar St., Suttons Bay. Each person with a donation gets a 30-minute arcade pass to Premonition’s Arcade. premonitionspizza.com

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HARVEST FOOD & SUPPLY DRIVE: Benefits the Women’s Resource Center of Northern MI. Donations include: grocery/supermarket gift cards, non-perishable foods, household goods/ paper products, personal care items & financial contributions. Please bring to the WRCNM main office at 423 Porter St. & Gold Mine Resale Shops in Petoskey; & WRCNM offices in Cheboygan, Gaylord & Mancelona. 231-347-1572.

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THANKSGIVING FOOD DRIVE: Help by donating potatoes, stuffing, canned vegetables, rolls, pies, etc. to help benefit those in need this Thanksgiving. Monetary donations can be made as well. Drop off location: NAI, 1258 Old 27 North, Gaylord. Donations will be accepted Mon. – Fri., 8am-4pm. Due by Fri., Nov. 15. 989-731-3909.

24 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOOD DRIVE: THANKS-FOR-GIVING PROJECT: NMC students will prepare 200 boxes, each containing fixings of a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Each box will be given to a local family in need of extra support in time for the holidays. Donations are being collected through Nov. 19. These include food, monetary donations for family games or crafts. Info: 231-645-6365.

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WINTER GEAR DRIVE: Collecting mittens, gloves, hats, coats & boots for local kids & teens in need. Proceeds benefit EJ kids. Collection locations: South Arm Café, East Jordan Public Schools (Elementary front door), East Jordan True Value, Valley Graphics Printing, Inc. & The East Jordan Laundromat. 231-350-0781.

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OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD: On Nov. 18-25, multiple locations throughout TC will open to collect shoebox gifts filled with toys, school supplies & hygiene items for the Samaritan Purse project. A list of drop-off locations can be found at: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/ drop-off-locations/?utm_source=OCC-PressRelease-Coordinator-Multiple-Drop-OffOpening&utm_medium=referral&utm_ content=Drop-Off-Locations-Pitch

ongoing

GENTLE YOGA FOR ADULTS: Tuesdays, 10am through Nov. 26. Interlochen Public Library, Community Room. Focus on breathing, gentle repeated movements & stretches. Bring your own mats, water & towels. tadl.org/interlochen

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PEEPERS PROGRAM: Tuesdays, 10am through Nov. 26, Boardman River Nature Center, TC. For ages 3-5. A 90-minute nature program that includes stories, crafts, music & discovery activities. Ends with an outside portion that will vary between a short exploratory hike, game, or engaging play to bring the lesson to life. natureiscalling.org/learn/pre-k-programs/peepers

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SOUL SOOTHING YOGA: Sundays, 9am, Table Health, GT Commons, TC. Weekly donation-based community yoga class. Gather for a guided, uplifting, all-levels yoga practice. tablehealthtc.com

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CTAC ARTISANS & FARMERS MARKET: Fridays, 10am-1pm, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Carnegie Building, Petoskey. Featuring a wide variety of locally grown & handmade goods.

NO MARKET ON NOV. 29. crookedtree.org/ petoskey/market

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RUN SABADOS: Saturdays, 9am, Nov. 9 Dec. 28. Norte Wheelhouse, Civic Center, TC. Run in cooperation with Norte, TC Track Club, Michigan Runner Girl & Running Fit. elgruponorte.org

art

SMALL WORKS HOLIDAY EXHIBITION: Glen Arbor Arts Center. Runs Nov. 15 – Dec. 18. This holiday show features art work 12” x 12” & smaller, all priced at $150 or less. A 6pm reception launches the show. As part of the opening reception, the GAAC will reveal the Gratitude Wall.

A Gallery Talk will be held on Nov. 24 at 2pm: Thanks + Gratitude – A Year-round Practice with JoAnna Pepe. A Holiday Open House will be held on Dec. 5 from 4–6pm. glenarborart.org

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BIG GROUP/SMALL WORKS EXHIBIT: Higher Art Gallery, TC. Featuring over 50 artists. This show is dedicated to encouraging the gifting of original art by providing small works at affordable gift giving prices. An Open House Style Reception will be held on Nov. 16 from 11am-3pm. Show runs Nov. 9 - Jan. 1. higherartgallery.com

WILD: Twisted Fish Gallery, Elk Rapids. Featuring paintings by Anni Crouter & Dani Knoph, & sculptures by Roger Smith, Sam Soet & James Troutman. Runs through Nov. 9. twistedfishgallery.com

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CITY OPERA HOUSE, TC: - JUST GREAT ART: This exhibit runs through Jan. 2, 2020. Fifteen local artists, all members of the Plein Air Painters of Northwest Michigan, will exhibit their original works in pastel, oil, watercolor & acrylic. The show hours are M-F from 10am-5pm & during events at the Opera House. www.cityoperahouse.org - PLEIN AIR PAINTERS OF NORTHWEST MI’S GREAT ART EXHIBITION & SALE: Held Mon. - Fri., 10am-5pm, Nov. 4 - Dec. 30. Fifteen artists will be in attendance with over 100 pieces of art on display. Find on Facebook.

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CROOKED TREE ARTS CENTER, PETOSKEY: - “READY-SET-GO: YOUNG ARTISTS SPOTLIGHT”: Held in Atrium Gallery. A juried exhibit of local student artwork. Runs Nov. 9 - Dec. 20.

- CALL FOR STUDENT ARTWORK - 2020 NYE AT CTAC, PETOSKEY: Entry is open to students 18 & under, in Charlevoix & Emmet counties, to submit their artwork for the New Year’s Eve at the Arts Center logo. The artwork will be used for promotional materials, t-shirts & admission buttons, & the selected artist will receive a family pass to the event & a gift certificate for art supplies. Download an entry form at crookedtree.org. The deadline is Mon., Nov. 11.

- “MICHIGAN NOW: ANNUAL JURIED FINE ARTS EXHIBITION”: Artists throughout the state of Michigan were invited to submit work of all media & subject matter. A total of 58 artists are represented in the exhibition of 79 works of art. Runs through Nov. 9. crookedtree.org

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CROOKED TREE ARTS CENTER, TC: - TRAVERSE AREA CAMERA CLUB COMPETITION SHOW 2019: Runs through Nov. 16.

- ORIGINAL: JURIED EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY PRINTS: Featuring all forms of printmaking by artists from across the U.S. Runs through Nov. 14.

- THE FLOATING WORLD: TRADITIONAL JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS: Held in Carnegie Rotunda. A select assortment of prints by Japanese artists of the Edo & Meiji periods, including Utagawa Hiroshige (1797– 1858) & Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), will be on display. On loan from Purdue University’s permanent collection. Runs through Nov. 14. crookedtree.org

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DENNOS MUSEUM CENTER, NMC, TC: - EXPLORATIONS IN WOOD: SELECTIONS FROM THE CENTER FOR ART IN WOOD: Runs through Dec. 29. Curated by Andy McGivern, this exhibition features 74 objects, a small sample of the work in the collection of Philadelphia’s Center for Art in Wood, gathered over a forty-year period.

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- CAROLE HARRIS: ART QUILTS: This fiber artist extends the boundaries of traditional quilting by exploring other forms of stitchery, irregular shapes, textures, materials & objects. Runs through Dec. 29. dennosmuseum.org

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OLIVER ART CENTER, FRANKFORT: - KEN COOPER & PHIL JOSEPH EXHIBIT: Cooper will show his abstract paintings & ceramic sculptures from his ‘Scratch and Dent’ series. Joseph will feature his large-scale abstract & landscape paintings. Exhibit runs through Nov. 22.

- ANNUAL HOLIDAY MARKET: Nov. 3-17.

Featuring more than a dozen local artists & their one of a kind works. oliverartcenterfrankfort.org

Kraftwerk, Houston, B.I.G. for Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced its annual list of nominees, Among those on the list of 16 performers up for inclusion in 2020 are Whitney Houston, The Notorious B.I.G., Kraftwerk, Soundgarden, and Todd Rundgren. The ceremony itself, presented by Klipsch Audio, will be held May 2, 2020, following a week of celebratory events at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you want to voice support for one or some of the nominees you can participate in the Rock Hall Fan Vote through Jan. 10 on Google and at www.rockhall.com …

Breakthrough singer Billie Eilish has announced a major tour — she’ll play shows in North America, South America, and Europe in 2020. Eilish’s Where Do We Go? World Tour will launch March 8 in Miami and will include stops in Detroit (March 23), Chicago (March 24), Indianapolis (March 25), and Los Angeles (April 4–5). Eilish is partnering with environmental nonprofit Reverb for her tour and will encourage fans to bring in refillable water bottles to help support climate change issues. After the first U.S. leg, Eilish will continue her tour in Mexico and Brazil …

The 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show has confirmed its performers for the big Feb

MODERN

Kraftwerk

ROCK

BY KRISTI KATES

2 event, and this year, rock will take a back seat to R&B and Latin music. Jennifer Lopez and Shakira will share the bill at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Lopez has said her set will be inspired by her memory of watching Diana Ross perform at the halftime show many years ago. The show will be extra special to Shakira for another reason: Feb. 2 is also her birthday …

As of Nov. 6 Questlove’s (The Roots) music podcast has found a new home on iHeartRadio. Originally launched as an extension of the music classes the drummer and Tonight Show musical director taught at New York University, his Questlove Supreme podcast showcases a slate of music Questlove personally curates. Each episode show features Quest and a new, well-known guest talking about the guest’s life, current projects, and of course, music.

Guests have included Michelle Obama, Maya Rudolph, and Chris Rock …

LINK OF THE WEEK Classically trained L.A. musicians Luke Eisner and Gus Ross have teamed up to form the pop duo Voilà, and they’ve just released a pop jam of a single called “Trouble in Paradise,” which adds in rap from fellow Los Angeleno Jalen Santoy; the tune, a preview of the pair’s upcoming debut EP, can be heard at www.soundcloud.com/weareviola …

THE BUZZ King Diamond is set to play a live show Nov. 14 at The Fillmore in Detroit …

Gucci Mane will take the stage in Detroit on Nov. 16, at the Fox Theater …

Molly played the first official concert at Grand Rapids’ new Listening Room, a 200seat venue in Studio Park, just south of Van Andel Arena …

Singer-songwriter Nellie McKay will perform Nov. 18 at The Ark in Ann Arbor … and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Comments, questions, rants, raves, suggestions on this column? Send ’em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com.

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Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 25

FOURSCORE 301 East Lake Street, Downtown Petoskey GrandpaShorters.com | 231. 347.2603

by kristi kates

Bent Knee – You Know What They Mean – RCA

Five albums in, Boston outfit Bent Knee is still keeping things interesting with its avant-garde blend of art-rock, minimalist music, and outright pop. It’s tough to put the band in any of the above categories, because they move so seamlessly between each; the catchiest tunes are probably “Give Us the Gold,” with its venue-ready chorus, and “Hold Me In,” with its replayability. But also of note is the echoey, ambitious first single “Catch Light” and the pretty “Golden Hour.”

Yeasayer – Fragrant World – Secretly Canadian

There’s a lot of machinery on Yeasayer’s latest, as the experimental indie-popsters dig into more eclectic, diverse sounds and steer away from classic indie-rock guitars. Piling layers of synths and drum machine tracks atop each other would seem to result in disorder, but the band is deft enough to use restraint on lushly appealing songs, like the spacey “Blue Paper,” the thought experiment that is “Longevity, or “Henrietta,” where an unexpected bass line holds down a beautiful background melody.”

Every tree needs a Petoskey Stone ornament.

Dream State – Primrose Path – UNFD

Frontwoman CJ Gilpin crafts some heavy lyrics for the Welsh band’s tracks, in stark contrast to the carefully written, inimitable instrumental compositions that roll underneath. This is the band’s official debut set, with opener “Made Up Smile” poised to introduce you to the band’s confident sound: pointy guitar riffs, hurtling drums, and masses of interchangeably icy and dark synth sounds, all supporting Gilpin’s darkly honest translations of her own personal challenges, through music.

Floating Points – Crush – Ninja Tune

Back after four years away from the charts, Floating Points, aka Sam Shepherd, is offering up this set on all the usual mediums, plus a special vinyl LP. The electronica artist is only on his sophomore album but is already a critical fave for his take on ’90s dance floor sounds mixed with English club music and experimental electronica.

Anchored primarily in breakbeat, the album careens through impressive tracks like the melodramatic “Falaise,” the deceptively pretty “Last Bloom,” and the piano-graced “Sea Watch,” before winding up the set with the the nicely grooving double closer, “Apoptose Pt. 1 and Pt. 2.”

26 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

The reel

by meg weichman

JOJO RABBIT Harriet

I

There’s been a great deal of conversation surrounding this ambitious and risky Holocaust comedy. Stuff like, is it too soon? Is the very premise of the film in poor taste? But these reactions seem to come primarily from people who have yet to actually see the film, and who are also kind of missing the point.

‘Cause here’s the thing — after seeing the wonderful satire of searing wit and intelligence that is Jojo Rabbit, I can tell you this: I laughed hysterically. I shed tears profusely. And its potent anti-hate message, which sadly feels all too relevant today, hit me straight in the heart.

So if there is a discussion I would like to have about this film, it’s about how refreshing it is to see such a truly original and cheerfully audacious film come out of mainstream Hollywood. There are no superheroes. It’s not a biopic, nor a remake, nor adapted from a bestselling book.

Instead, the brilliantly creative mind of Taika Waitit (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok) brings us a bold, goofy, sweet, and quirky film that is completely within the realm of good taste and all the more powerful and entertaining, thanks to the storytelling risks Waitit takes.

Jojo Rabbit focuses on a boy and his mother living in Nazi Germany toward the end of World War II. Young Jojo (remarkable newcomer Roman Griffin Davis) is a neurotic and anxious kid who desperately wants to hang with the cool kids and is looking forward to attending a youth training camp. Jojo has a blind fanaticism for the Nazi cause and idolizes Hitler and soldiers in the same way kids today look up to superheroes.

But once he actually gets to camp, giving his all for the Motherland isn’t as easy as he had thought.

He can’t even manage to kill a rabbit, a failure that makes him the target of ridicule. But Jojo finds the support he needs to carry on through his imaginary friend, Hitler (played by Waitit), who serves as his confidante and offers Jojo advice.

Back home after injuring himself at camp, Jojo discovers that his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), is hiding in their home a Jewish girl (another incredibly gifted young performer, Thomasin McKenzie, of Leave No Trace). The girl is a friend of his recently passed older sister. In this moment, the world falls apart for dear Jojo, as he begins questioning what he believes and what is truly right and wrong. Jojo grows increasingly conflicted, not only over whether to turn in his mother — as he has been taught is his duty — but also about what he’s

t’s hard to knock a film directed by an African American woman (Kasi Lemmons, Eve’s Bayou), starring an African America woman (Cynthia Erivo), and telling the heroic story of abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman. This is an important film just for being made and given a major release by a Hollywood studio. But yeah. Thing is, Harriet is just so mediocre and underwhelming, it doesn’t leave any impression. This is an uninspired biopic that aims to be completely middlebrow and conventional so as to be palatable to a wide (read: white) audience. It’s the type of film that will find its greatest value being used as a perennial tool in high school classrooms.

Before she was Harriet Tubman, the famed Underground Railroad conductor, she was “Minty” (Erivo). And the film shows us the journey Minty makes from slavery to freedom in the North, before returning again, to the South as “Harriet,” to rescue over 300 slaves, including her own friends and family.

Hers is a staggering accomplishment, but one that the film — with cheesy dialogue, stale cinematography, and a clichéd narrative that lacks drama and suspense — underplays.

been taught about Jews (namely, that they’re demons and monsters), which this young girl clearly is not.

This shocking discovery serves to bring Jojo and his mother closer as Davis brilliantly underplays that Jojo knows his mother’s secret. And we see beautiful evidence of a loving mother who wants to instill in her son what really matters and reach the kind and understanding boy she knows is in there.

hustlers lucy in the sky

Waitiki’s performance as Hitler is a feat. It is a cartoonish and ridiculous Hitler who is equal parts exuberant force and petulant child. Waitiki, Jewish himself, mocks and ridicules Hitler in a devilishly absurdist fashion that is not only very funny but also satisfying.

Comedy stalwarts like Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, and Sam Rockwell (who seems to have cornered the market on playing racists) also give exceedingly funny Nazi-lampooning performances, while Johansson simply glows with warmth and nurturing love. And Archie Yates completely stole my heart (and maybe the film) as Jojo’s sweet and chubby friend Yorki.

This is a coming-of-age story that shows learning to hate makes the old adage of “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” all the more poignant. When we laugh at the Nazi stooges in the film, it makes the horrors they committed all the more potent; it humanizes the situation.

And while Waititi imbues a tender sense of humanity in these enemies, he does it without trite sentimentality or any sense of forgiveness for their heinous crimes.

It would’ve been so much easier to make a serious movie about the Holocaust, and the whimsy that might seem so strange to people is never cutesy.

A complete master class in tone, the film switches gears in the last act to heartbreaking effect, with a final scene featuring a particular music cue that will knock you flat.

Could it have been harsher towards its Nazi villains? Perhaps. But the film is beyond those kinds of judgments. Because even if the central conceit might put you off — I get that every instinct in your body is saying, ‘You can’t think Hitler or Nazis are funny,’ but really, it’s OK. Remember Hogan’s Heroes? — the sad truth is that this film has a message that; in these dark times simply cannot be shared enough. And I, for one, am glad to see it shared in a way that is as playful and original as it is powerful.

Meg Weichman is a perma-intern at the Traverse City Film Festival and a trained film archivist.

O

ne of my all-time favorite WTF news stories was that of Lisa Nowak, a NASA astronaut who drove 900 miles, nonstop, from Houston to Orlando, armed with pepper spray and wearing a wig, trench coat, and adult diapers while on mission to kidnap the Air Force Captain in a relationship with a man who dumped her. All these years later, that story really stuck with me. So when I heard about a film adaptation of this relatively obscure tabloid headline, imagine my disbelief after seeing it and discovering they left out the absolute best part of the story: the adult diapers.

Sure, this might seem like a small detail, but it really does speak to the greater problems at work in Lucy in the Sky. Director Noah Hawley (FX’s resident auteur, of Fargo and Legion fame) makes his feature film debut with this story that attempts to go beyond the sleazy punchlines to humanize this ridiculed figure. But in trying to create sympathy for Lisa — renamed Lucy for the purposes of this fictionalized film and played by a poorly accented Natalie Portman in a distractingly awful wig — Hawley aims too high and goes overly serious, unsuccessfully trying to create a meaningful mediation out of what is essentially a very campy story.

the addams family

A

wful. Terrible. Horrible. These are among some of the macabre-loving Addams Family’s favorite words to describe things. But when it comes to their new animated movie, not only do those words apply, in this case, it’s definitely not a good thing. (And perhaps the film isn’t all that bad, but you get my point.) This adaption of Charles Addams’ darkly delightful creations misses the mark, turning something unique, distinctive, and strange into something conventional and bland. It never truly embraces the deranged and morbid characters. Featuring some bigname vocal talents (Charlize Theron as Morticia, Oscar Isaac as Gomez, Chloe Grace Moretz as Wednesday, and Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard as Pugsley) the plot revolves around the family becoming the enemy of an HGTV-esque star (Allison Janney) who builds a planned community down the road from the Addams’s home. The messaging here, about being yourself and learning acceptance is incredibly heavyhanded. And while some of the word play rises to amusing levels, we primarily get groaners like a whine cellar (with people’s whines stored in the barrels; not wine). Toothless and innocuous, this film should be called The Average Family.

Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 27

nitelife

NOv 09 - nov 17 edited by jamie kauffold

Send Nitelife to: events@traverseticker.com

Grand Traverse & Kalkaska

ACOUSTIC TAP ROOM, TC 11/9 – Corbin Manikas, 8 BONOBO WINERY, TC 11/9 -- Sam + Bill, 6-8 FANTASY'S, TC Mon. - Sat. -- Adult entertainment w/ DJ, 7-close GT DISTILLERY, TC Fri. – Younce Guitar Duo, 7-9:30 KILKENNY'S, TC 11/8-9 -- Sweet Jay, 9:30 11/14 -- 2Bays DJs, 9:30 11/15 -- Scarkazm, 9:30 11/16 -- Soul Patch, 9:30 LEFT FOOT CHARLEY, TC 11/11 -- Open Mic Night w/ Rob Coonrod, 6-9 11/15 -- Dennis Palmer, 6-8 PARK PLACE HOTEL, TC BEACON LOUNGE: Thurs,Fri,Sat -- Tom Kaufmann, 8:30 RIGHT BRAIN BREWERY, TC Wed -- Traverse City Backgammon, 6-9

SAIL INN BAR & GRILL, TC Thurs. & Sat. -- Phattrax DJs & Karaoke, 9

Wed -- Jazz Jam, 6-10 11/15 -- Brett Mitchell, 8 11/16 -- Stonefolk, 8

SLEDER'S FAMILY TAVERN, TC 11/17 -- Windborne, 5

UNION STREET STATION, TC 11/9 -- Electric Red, 10 11/10,11/17 -- Karaoke, 10 11/11 -- Kamikaze Comedy Night Presents Keith Bergman, 8pm; then Chris Sterr 11/12 -- TC Comedy Collective, 8-9:30; then Open Mic/Jam Session w/ Matt McCalpin & Jimmy Olson 11/13 -- DJ Fasel, 10 11/14 -- The Brothers Crunch, 10 11/15 -- Happy Hour w/ Harvey Wallbangers; then Skin & Marshall Dance Party 11/16 -- DJ Coven, 10

TC WHISKEY CO., TC THE STILLHOUSE: 11/14 -- Sam & Bill, 6-8 THE DISH CAFE, TC Tues, Sat -- Matt Smith, 5-7 THE LITTLE FLEET, TC THE YURT: 11/9 – Flapjacks & Flannel Festival w/ Jonathan Time Band, The Pocket & The Pistil Whips, 11am-7pm THE PARLOR, TC 11/9 -- Jim Hawley & Co., 8 11/12 -- Jimmy Olson, 8 11/13 -- Rob Coonrod, 8 11/14 -- Chris Smith, 8 11/15 -- Matt Mansfield, 8 11/16 -- Joe Wilson, 8

WEST BAY BEACH, A DELAMAR RESORT, TC 11/9 -- Good on Paper Comedy Improv, 8

Emmet & Cheboygan BEARDS BREWERY, PETOSKEY 11/9 -- Greg Vadnais Jazz Quartet, 8-11 11/10 -- Owen James - Second Sunday Solo Set, 6-9 11/14 -- Mark Lavengood Band, 8:30-11 11/16 -- The River Dogs, 8-11 11/17 -- Jeffrey Schlehuber, 6-9

KNOT JUST A BAR, BAY HARBOR Mon,Tues,Thurs — Live music LEO’S NEIGHBORHOOD TAVERN, PETOSKEY Thurs — Karaoke w/ DJ Michael Willford, 10

ODAWA CASINO, PETOSKEY 11/15 -- An Unforgettable Nat King Cole Christmas Starring Evan Tyrone Martin: SOLD OUT, 8 THE SIDE DOOR SALOON, PETOSKEY Sat. – Karaoke, 8

Leelanau & Benzie BIG CAT BREWING CO., CEDAR 11/13 -- The Duges, 6:30-8:30 DICK’S POUR HOUSE, LAKE LEELANAU Sat. — Karaoke, 10-2 HOP LOT BREWING CO., SUTTONS BAY 11/14 -- Brewery Bingo, 7 IRON FISH DISTILLERY, THOMPSONVILLE 11/9 -- MacKenzie Rosin, 7-9 11/15 -- Max Lockwood, 7-9:30 11/16 -- Jake Frysinger, 7-9

LAKE ANN BREWING CO. 11/12 -- A Brighter Bloom, 6:30 11/13 -- Brain Busting Trivia, 7

Wanda Curtis, 6 11/15 -- Blake Elliott, 6-9 11/16 -- Maggie McCabe, 6-9

LEELANAU SANDS CASINO, PESHAWBESTOWN 11/9 -- Magic Mike XXL, 10

STORMCLOUD BREWING CO., FRANKFORT 11/9 -- The Real Ingredients, 8-10 11/10 -- Storm the Mic - Hosted

by Blake Elliott, 6-9 11/16 -- Olivia Mainville, 8-10

LUMBERJACK'S BAR & GRILL, HONOR Fri & Sat -- Phattrax DJs & Karaoke, 9 ST. AMBROSE CELLARS, BEULAH 11/9 -- Barefoot, 6-9 11/14 -- Open Mic w/ Jim &

THE CABBAGE SHED, ELBERTA Thu -- Open Mic, 8 11/15 -- Music Bingo for BACN, 7

Otsego, Crawford & Central

THE WORKSHOP BREWING CO., TC 11/9 -- The Lofteez, 8 11/11 -- Big Fun Jam Band, 6 Tue -- TC Celtic, 6:30

ALPINE TAVERN & EATERY, GAYLORD Sat -- Live Music, 6-9

Antrim & Charlevoix CELLAR 152, ELK RAPIDS 11/15 -- Jeff Brown, 7-10 11/16 -- Blake Elliott, 7 LAKE STREET PUB, BOYNE CITY Sat -- Karaoke, 8-11 SHORT'S BREWING CO., BELLAIRE 11/9 -- The Pocket, 8-10:30 11/14 – Trivia Night, 7-9:30 11/15 – The Distant Stars, 8:30-11

11/16 – Erin Zindle & The Ragbirds, 8:30-11 STIGG'S BREWERY & KITCHEN, BOYNE CITY 11/9 – Nelson Olstrom, 7 11/14 -- Blair Miller, 5-8 11/15 – Under the Moon, 6 11/16 – Something Great, 7

Mon Nov 11- $5 martinis, $5 domestic beer pitcher, $10 craft beer pitcher.

Kamikaze Comedy Night presents Keith Bergman (starts at 8pm) then: Chris Smith

Tues - $2 well drinks & shots 8-9:30 TC Comedy Collective

TORCH LAKE CAFÉ, CENTRAL LAKE 1st & 3rd Mon. – Trivia, 7 Weds. -- Lee Malone Thurs. -- Open mic Fri. & Sat. -- Leanna’s Deep Blue Boys 2nd Sun. -- Pine River Jazz

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w/ Matt McCalpin & Jimmy Olson

Manistee, Wexford & Missaukee LITTLE RIVER CASINO RESORT, MANISTEE 11/16 – Australia’s Thunder From Down Under, 8

NORTH CHANNEL BREWING CO., MANISTEE 11/9 -- 2 Year Anniversary Birthday Bash w/ Live Music, 11

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Wed - Get it in the can night - $1 domestic, $3 craft w/DJ FASEL

Fri Nov 15- Buckets of Beer starting at $8 (2-8pm)

Located at Traverse Wellness Center

Sat Nov 16- DJ Coven Sun Nov 17 - KARAOKE (10PM-2AM)

2785 Garfield Rd, N., #C Traverse City TalkOfTheTownYoga.com • 231-633-6033

Thurs - $2 off all drinks & $2 Coors Lt. pints W/The Brothers Crunch Happy Hour: Harvey Wallbangers Then: Skin & Marshall Dance Party

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28 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

WIFI

REDNECK YACHT CLUB, WELLSTON 11/15 -- Cheryl Wolfram, 7

the ADViCE GOddESS Once Upon A Crime

Q

: I’ve been with my boyfriend for nine years, and I’m still pissed off about stuff from like five years ago. I don’t know how I remember this stuff when I can’t find my keys half the time. I’d like to get rid of these resentments and not keep bringing them up. I know it’s not healthy for me or our relationship, but I don’t know how to let them go.

— Stuck

A

improve things, or you could decide to leave if things don’t change sufficiently. That said, his changing may take more than one discussion, or at least a few reminders to get the gears of new and improved behavior grinding into action.

If you see he’s making an effort, maybe cut him some slack. Laugh at his human fallibility instead of taking it personally when he again leaves his toenail clippings in a tiny pile on the bathroom floor, as if they’ll magically float over to the trash can and fling themselves over the rim: “Goodbye cruel world!”

: So, basically, this is you: “I wish they allowed dogs in my building, but no biggie. I’ll take this thing you did in 2006 and make it my special pet. I’ll feed it raw food and buy it artisanally made toys and take it around in a stroller.”

Q

On the other end of the spectrum from endlessly reprosecuting relationship misdemeanors is forgiveness. Evolutionary psychologist Michael McCullough explains in “Beyond Revenge” that “forgiveness is an internal process of getting over your ill will” for somebody who’s wronged you and then “experiencing a return of goodwill” and “opening yourself up to the possibility of a renewed positive relationship” with the person.

A

Forgiveness appears to have evolved to preserve valuable relationships we have with others, but it seems contingent on our not being made repeated patsies, meaning we need to see that the offender won’t just trample our interests again.

In line with this, research by social psychologist Ian Williamson and his colleagues finds that a reluctance to forgive can come out fear, including concerns by the victim “about how offenders will interpret forgiveness.” Basically, there’s a worry that forgiving the perp could send a message that it’s open season for repeat offending.

Consider whether there’s reason to believe your boyfriend doesn’t have your best interests in mind. If you stack up his behavior toward you, does it suggest he doesn’t care about you? If this is old stuff and he isn’t repeating the behavior, maybe it serves you best to decide to let it go. McCullough notes that a “lack of forgiveness for close, valuable relationship partners who harmed us in the past is associated with more anxiety, tension, and physiological arousal.” McCullough goes cute, writing: “Know forgiveness, know peace.

No forgiveness, no peace.”

If you feel your boyfriend’s a good guy but needs of yours aren’t being met, bring this out, talk to him about it. That could

BY Amy Alkon

My Fare Lady : I’ve been dating a guy for just over a month. He’s asked me to go with him to an out-of-state wedding (across the country) several weeks from now, but he didn’t mention buying me a plane ticket. I think he should buy it because he invited me. Am I expecting too much?

— Unsure : Chances are he doesn’t expect you to mail yourself in a really big crate or saddle up Hortense the limping mule and meet him there — just in time for the divorce party.

Should you pick up the tab for your ticket? I don’t think so — and not just because the guy invited you as his guest. Destination weddings in exotic places (or simply faraway weddings in dull and unglamorous locales) are not vacations.

They are social obligations, big life events that are reinforced by the presence of witnesses.

Having the community as an “audience” to a marriage ceremony is thought by Matthijs Kalmijn and other sociologists to help reinforce a couple’s lifelong commitment.

The ceremony is typically followed by an open bar, some fancy grub, and a Beyonce cover band so the wedding is attended by more than the bride and groom’s teary-eyed relatives and a homeless guy who snuck in looking for free hooch.

Don’t let this question fester in your mind to the point that you’re tempted to snarl at the guy, “Hey, tightwad, you planning to pay for my ticket or what?!” Ask right away, something like: “What’s the transportation situation? How are we getting to the wedding?” Assuming he doesn’t generally seem weirdly stingy, there’s a good chance he’s planning to buy your ticket but didn’t think to make it clear. There are a number of reasons a person spends hundreds of dollars on a plane ticket, and it’s generally not so they can eat free cake with a bunch of strangers on the other side of the country.

“Jonesin” Crosswords "What Good Luck!" --let's pitch in. by Matt Jones

ACROSS 1 Wading bird 5 “Lethal Weapon” cop 10 “Whip It” group 14 Standard level 15 “Invisible Cities” author Calvino 16 In a frenzy 17 Provable 18 Some nightclub performances 20 Start of a quip 22 “___ Billie Joe” 23 ___-Cone 24 Support system 27 One-___ (rare events) 31 Digging animals 33 Head-in-elbow motion 36 Part 2 of the quip 39 “The Mikado” accessories 41 Farmyard refrain 42 Mix up 43 Part 3 of the quip 46 Sean Lennon’s mom 47 Father Sarducci of old “SNL” 48 “Entertainment Tonight” alum John 49 Polo Grounds slugger Mel 50 Has been 53 “J’Accuse” author Zola 58 End of the quip 62 Reproduces by hand, maybe 65 “Buenos ___!”

66 Tandoori, e.g.

67 Clear the whiteboard 68 “___ Man of Constant Sorrow” 69 Like some memes 70 Portable dwellings 71 French Open surface DOWN 1 Split 2 Uninterested 3 “Go, me!”

4 Silvery food fish 5 Loaded (with) 6 “___ have to wait” 7 “The Ballad of Reading ___”: Wilde 8 Is brilliant 9 Existentialist Kierkegaard 10 “Fantastic Mr Fox” author Roald 11 Comedian Philips 12 Covenant 13 Approvals 19 Play-reviewing aid 21 Blanket material 24 Popeye’s rival 25 Lacquer ingredient 26 2019 World Series player 28 Author Jonathan Safran ___ 29 ___ gras (food banned by New York City) 30 Actor Ulrich 32 Breakfast drinks 33 Kitteh’s counterpart, in pet slang 34 Nearly 35 Hit the ground hard, in skating 37 Drink for the pinot gallery?

38 Makes a row in a garden, say 40 Time zone abbr.

44 “America’s Got Talent” judge Mandel 45 “That was close” 51 Plus column entry 52 Beach location 54 Doc on a battlefield 55 Related to a hipbone 56 Guanaco’s cousin 57 Short paper 58 Secret signal 59 “Kindergarten Cop” director Reitman 60 Brooding spot 61 Tests for prospective Ph.Ds 62 Fish and chips fish 63 Zoologist’s eggs 64 It may stain when leaking

Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 29

aSTRO

lOGY

She’s made your heart skip a beat since day one. Keep mastering those dance moves with the help of our expert heart team.

the door to the soul is unlocked. You don’t have to struggle through any special machinations to open it or go through it.

Furthermore, the realm of the soul is always ready for you.

Always! It harbors the precise treasure you need in order to be replenished and empowered. I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, because I think that during the next two weeks, you should abide as much as possible in the soul’s realm—the cornucopia of holy truths and ever-fresh riches.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Many books have been written about Joan of Arc, a fifteenth-century teenage peasant girl whose improbable ascent to military leadership, under the guidance of her divine visions, was crucial in France’s victory over the English. Among the many miraculous elements of her story was the fact that less than a year before she led troops into battle on horseback, she didn’t know how to ride a horse. She learned by riding around her father’s farm astride his cows. I foresee an equivalent marvel in your future, Capricorn. By this time next year, you will have developed an aptitude that might seem unimaginable now. (P.S. There’s evidence Joan was a Capricorn.)

munsonhealthcare.org/youramazingheart

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The Divine

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Comedy is one of history’s greatest literary works. Its author, Dante Alighieri, was 43 when he began writing the Inferno, the first part of his three-part masterpiece. Up until that time, he had published just one book and a few poems, and had also abandoned work on two unfinished books. Early on in the Inferno, the not-yet-renowned author presents a fictional scene in which he meets with the spirits of antiquity’s most famous authors: Virgil, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. Those illustrious five tell Dante he is such an important writer that he ranks sixth, after them, in his excellence. I’m going to encourage you to dare indulging in behavior like Dante’s: to visualize and extol—and yes, even brag about—the virtues and skills that will ultimately be your signature contribution to this world.

PISCES (Feb 19-March 20): The Latin word for

sea is mare. Flustra is the calm sea. Undisonus means “resounding with waves.” Caeruleus is the sea’s deep shade of blue, aestus is the tide, and aequoreus means “connected with the sea.”

My hope is that as you meditate on these lyrical terms, you’ll be moved to remember the first lakes, rivers, and oceans you ever swam in. You’ll recall your time floating in your mother’s womb and your most joyous immersions in warm baths and hotsprings. Why? It’s a favorable time to seek the healing and rejuvenating powers of primal waters—both metaphorically and literally.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): If there are any

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Vintage kitch120 feet ofhardwood private floors, frontage on all sports Spider en w/ ceramic butcher block counters, glass panedon Lake.

Largest&part of Spider Lake, sunshine cupboards, walk-in pantry, all new appliances.

Built &inthe westWoodsy setting with beautiful view of Duck Lake the beach allUpdated day,a sandy bottom.

Quality conshelving units. baths w/ frontage old style character, erly sunsets.

Shared Duck Lake within a very short struction, perfectly maintained.

Open floor plan w/ soaring vaulted pine ceiling w/ a wall of winglass block, ceramic Interior & exterior freshly walking distance at tile thefloors. end of the road.

Large wrap-around dows looking out to the lake.

Floor-to-ceiling, natural Michigan stone, wood burning fireplace painted.

Extremely energy efficient.

Nicely manicured multi-level decks in the spacious yard that backs up to a creek. w/ Heatilator vents.

Built in bookcases in separate area yard w/ plenty of perennials.

Fenced back yard perfect Open floor plan. Master with cozy reading area, 2 closets, slider of living room for cozy reading center. for privacy,family &room even includes a chickenDetached coop! Con-garage has complete studio, kitchen, workshop, Finished w/ woodstove. out to deck.pets Maple crown molding in kitchen & hall. Hickory location toown walkdeck. or bike2 to all thelarge amenities &on main house, patio, lakeside deck, bon-fire pit 1venient ½ baths & its docks, deck & bamboo flooring in main level bedrooms. Built in armoire & thatsets TC has to offer.Extensively 1 block from TART trail. w/ plants & flowers conducive to all the wildlife &festivals multiple of stairs. landscaped dresser in 2nd bedroom.

6 panel doors.

Finished family room in Garage could be added off alley. (1868958) $283,000.

that surrounds the MLS#1798048 area. (1791482) $570,000. walk-out lower level. $220,000.

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30 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

BY ROB BREZSNY

ScORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Poet Robert Bly tells us that

CAPRICORN

Award-winning heart care, here for you.

NOV 11 - NOV 17

potential Aries heroes or leaders or saviors out there, the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to fully bloom and assert your practical magnificence. The lessons you have learned while improvising workable solutions for yourself are ripe to be applied to the riddles that are puzzling your tribe or group or gang. I want to let you know, however, that to achieve maximum effectiveness, you should be willing to do good deeds for people who may not be able to pay you back.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You’re entering a

phase of your astrological cycle when it’s crucial that your receptivity be as robust as possible.

To guide you in this delightful but perhaps challenging work, here are good questions for you to pose. 1. Do you know what help and support you need most, and are you brave and forthright enough to ask for it? 2. Is there any part of you, perhaps unconscious, that believes you don’t deserve gifts and blessings? 3. Do you diligently cultivate your capacity to be refreshed and restored? 4.

Are you eagerly responsive when life surprises you with learning experiences and inspirations?

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Many people

will not be honest because they fear loss of intimacy and togetherness,” writes self-help author Henry Cloud. But the truth, he adds, is that “honesty brings people closer together,” because it “strengthens their identities.” Therein

lies the tender paradox: “The more you realize your separate identities, the closer you can become.” Living according to this principle may not be as easy or convenient as being deceptive and covert, but it’s ultimately more gratifying. Henry Cloud concludes, “Telling loved ones what is really on your mind and telling others what you really think is the foundation of love.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Maturity is having the ability to escape categorization,” said poet Kenneth Rexroth. That’s the opposite of the conventional wisdom. For many people, the process of growing up and becoming a seasoned adult means trying to fit in, to find one’s category, to be serious and steady and stable. Rexroth, on the other hand, suggested that when you fully ripen into your potentials, you transcend standard definitions; you don’t adhere to others’ expectations; you are uniquely yourself, outside and beyond all pigeonholes and classifications. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to practice and cultivate this sacred art.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is there an event from your past that would be empowering for you to remember in detail? Is there a neglected but still viable dream you could resurrect, thereby energizing your enthusiasm for the future? Are there old allies you’ve lost touch with but who, if you called on them, could provide you with just the boost you need?

Is there a familiar pleasure you’ve grown numb to but could reinvigorate by visualizing the original reasons you loved it?

The coming weeks will be a favorable time to meditate on these questions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Catholic saint

St. Francis (1181–1226) loved animals and the natural world. According to one folkloric tale, he was once traveling on foot with several companions when they came upon a place where the trees were filled with birds. Francis said, “Wait for me while I go preach to my sisters the birds.” He proceeded to do just that. The birds were an attentive audience for the duration of his sermon, apparently captivated by his tender tones. Seven centuries later, author Rebecca West offered a critique of the bird-whisperer. “Did St. Francis preach to the birds?” she asked. “Whatever for? If he really liked birds he would have done better to preach to the cats.” In the coming

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Every now and then I authorize you Libras to shed your polite, tactful personas and express the angst you sometimes feel but usually hide. That’s now!

To egg you on, read this mischievous rant by Libran blogger Clary Gay (claryfightwood.tumblr.com): “We Libras are constantly thinking about how to make everyone else comfortable and happy. There’s not a minute going by when we’re not worrying about radiating a soothing and comforting aura so everyone can have a good time. If a Libra is cranky, it’s because they snapped! Because of some non-Libra who doesn’t appreciate them! If a Libra is mean to people, it’s their own damn fault!”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) In my

estimation, what you’ve experienced lately has been akin to a fermentation process. It’s as if you’re undergoing a transformation with resemblances to the way that grapes turn into wine or milk becomes yogurt or dough rises before being baked into bread. You may have had to endure some discomfort, which is the case for anything in the midst of substantial change. But I think you’ll ultimately be quite pleased with the results, which I expect will be ready no later than ten days after your birthday— and quite possibly sooner.

NORTHERN EXPRESS

CLASSIFIEDS EMPLOYMENT THE CHILDREN’S HOUSE, and idependent Montessori, is seeking an Administrative Assistant TCH is accepting applications for a full-time, year-round Administrative Assistant beginning January of 2020. Qualified candidates will have the following skillset: Attention to detail and organized. Flexible and willing to do an array of tasks. Computer proficiency in Office Suite, Google Suite, and file management. Proactive at working from a plan and schedule. Effective, professional communicator (oral and written).Cheerful, cooperative and respectful of others. Please email cover letter and resumes to Kim Schrader kim@traversechildrenshouse.org _________________________________________ JOB POSTING: Bellaire Public Library Director Job description at http://bellairelibrary.org Apply by 11/20/19. No calls _________________________________________ FABRICATING COMMERCIAL CABINETRY Hiring Motivated individuals for all areas in our custom cabinetry shop Experience isn’t necessary, We will train. Fulltime Positions with benefits. Stop in and fill out a application @ 6308 Bates Road, Williamsburg, MI 49690 or send resume to daves@aciwork.net _________________________________________ DESIGN/ENGINEER Now Hiring Cabinetry Shop Design/Engineer with Autodesk Inventor Experience, and able to read renderings.

Designing cabinetry for commercial projects Fulltime Position with Benefits Please Email Resume to daves@aciwork.net checkout our website @ www.aciwork.net _________________________________________ BUS DRIVERS: Be a part of the TCAPS Transportation Team PAID Training; New Hire Licensing Bonus; Sign on Bonus; Health/ Retirement Benefits; Up to 50% Tuition Reimbursement; Flexible Schedule for Small Business Owners; Employee Referral Bonus Apply at www.tcaps.net/jobs or call 231-933-1715

LEGAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Traverse Legal, PLC is seeking a Legal Administrative Assistant for the Traverse City office. Position will require a high level of comprehensive administrative/clerical support to a team of attorneys and support staff.

Responsibilities will include transcription, document preparation, answering and screening telephone calls, docketing and calendar management, client file maintenance using firm’s electronic systems, and administrative support specific to practice areas. Salary commensurate with experience. _________________________________________ PAID JOB TRAINING FOR 55 AND OVER PAID ON THE JOB TRAINING FOR INDIVIDUALS 55 AND OVER. Positions are waiting to be filled. Paid part-time, on-the-jobtraining positions are available for seniors age 55 and over. Applicants must be 55 or over, unemployed, seeing work and meet program income guidelines. For information call AARP Foundation SCSEP at 231-252-4544.

OTHER MEDITATION RETREAT SATURDAY Nov 16th 9AM-4PM SokukoJi Buddhist CommunityTraverse City, a non profit org, will host at the Unitarian Universalist Building, 6726 Center Rd. Sokuzan, a dharma transmitted monk, will give am/pm talks about meditation as awareness practice. All are welcome. Come for all or part of the day. Lunch is provided. For details/rsvp: sokukojitc.org or sokukojitc@gmail.com _________________________________________ SINGLE, PRIVATE TC OFFICE at $275 month Includes utilities/parking/MB/shared bath.

Details: Call/text Mike 231-570-1111 _________________________________________ COTTAGE FOR RENT TC Cottage for Rent, Beautiful 1 BR, Nice Setting, Fully Furnished, Includes All Utilities, Wired for Cable & Internet, Washer/Dryer, Move-In Ready, $1,200 Per Month; 231-631-7512.

DAN’S AFFORDABLE HAULING Best rates in town! Hauling junk, debris, yard, misc. Anything goes! For a free estimate, call (231)499-8684 or (231)620-1370 _________________________________________ SALON 14 - CHAIR RENTAL - HAIR STYLIST Full/Part Time Chair rental available. $30-$35.00 a day. Includes Back-bar,Towels,Station, and Cabinet for more details contact Kendra @ 231.360.4387 _________________________________________ BUSINESS FOR SALE Books Are Fun/ Collective Goods of Northern Michigan, has a territory available. Equipment and inventory included. For information call 989-727-4210 _________________________________________ CONCORD GRAPES & HONEYCRISP Apples for Sale $30 for 1/2 Bushel, Discounts for Larger Quantities. Call (231) 631-7512. vickie@traverselegal.com _________________________________________ DAN’S AFFORDABLE HAULING Best rates in town! Hauling junk, debris, yard, misc. Anything goes! For a free estimate, call (231)499-8684 or (231)620-1370 _________________________________________ CARPET CLEANING! Grand Traverse & Nothern Michigan Carpet, Tile & Grout,and Furniture Care. SteamerCo Carpet Cleaning (231)640-9700 _________________________________________ ROOM FOR RENT Private room in Family home located in Village of Northport, fully furnished, TV/Wi-Fi, shared bath, access to laundry and full house, off street parking, non smoking house, $450. _________________________________________ BEST AND PUREST HEMP CBD products at a great price Visit www.canbiola.com use code LPRC20 at checkout for 35% off and free shipping

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Northern Express Weekly • november 11, 2019 • 31

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Odawa Northern Express November Ad 11-11.11.6.indd 1 3250464 • november 11, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

11/6/19 12:55 PM