Northern Express - June 01, 2020

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AWAY FROM THE MADDENING CROWD Your Summer-Hike Hot List

NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • june 01 - june 07, 2020 • Vol. 30 No. 22 The Upper Manistee Headwaters: The Milock Family Preserve; photo courtesy of Great Lakes Regional Land Conservancy

Northern Express Weekly • june 01, 2020 • 1

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John Tredway 806 S Garfield Ave Suite B Jim Mellinger 12935 S W Bay Shore Dr Ste 310 231-932-1290 231-947-1123 Greg Williams 513 S Union Street Steve Meteer 125 Park Street, Suite 250 231-933-0881 231-947-3032

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2 • june 01, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

Financial Advisor in Elk Rapids

Tom Shelder, CFP®, AAMS® 100 River Street, Unit 2 231-264-9433

Financial Advisor in Glen Arbor

Kevin E Dunklow 6404 Western Ave 231-835-8011

Call or visit any of our financial advisors in the area.

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Our Political World When Pope [Francis suggested that COVID-19 was one of “nature’s responses” to] climate change, I was a little surprised; any of the evangelical boys in America would have claimed it was God. I guess the Pope had more respect than to blame God for so many deaths, and it is really a battle between opposing forces here on earth.

Earthly battles never seem to stop. No matter the issues, war always seems to be the solution. Even in domestic and personal disputes guns are often, no matter the insanity, the ultimate answer.

The one earthly battle I have grown so overwhelmingly frustrated by is the conflict between our principal political parties. Even in times of great crisis, they never come together for the common good or bravely represent our best interests. Their interests always follow the path of power, money, and winning the battle — ethics be damned.

Not to condemn any one single party; they have both lost their dignity, their integrity, and any candidate who seeks their support has to prostitute themselves to that ideology.

I have little respect for any president since Jimmy Carter, and none for some. They have all obeyed the corporate agenda whether it is war profiteering or the oppression of the labor that makes our world happen. The national minimum wage is still $7.25 per hour!

On the state and local level, white privilege saved a local politician [Rep. Lee Chatfield] from a felony charge — then seemed to promote him to the honorable position of speaker of our state House of Representatives.

He and his party have had an iron grip on our state, and the poor condition of education, roads, and more shows it. When they can’t extend that level of control over the new governor, they spend our money to sue for that control, insulting her with profanity. My God! Bob Wallick, Cross Village Reopening at All Costs While some non-essential workers are hurt by being unable to work, essential workers — especially our medical personnel — come face to face with the virus. They not only fear getting the virus but also worry about bringing it home and exposing their family. By opening the economy too soon or quickly, our already stressed medical workers will face more deaths from the virus. We are discovering through testing — especially in our nursing homes, prisons, and meat packing plants — that the number people infected is multiple times higher than expected.

By not addressing those hot spots, the virus will spread to surrounding communities.

Social distancing only slows down the spread.

Without testing, we do not know who is infected, since many show no symptoms and unknowing infect others. The way to control the virus is through testing and isolating those who test positive, as well as testing those who came in contact. While social distancing

flattens the curve, testing locates and isolates the virus and pushes the curve downward.

While it is vital to provide protective gear for our hospital staff, such protection needs to be provided for nursing homes, prisons, and meat-packing plants as well as to set-up social distancing in such places as well as testing to identify and isolate those infected.

Reopening prior to having control over places where close contact can’t be prevented will only accelerate the spread, again overwhelming our hospitals and erasing the gains we’ve achieved. Such reopenings either will be shortlived, or the public will not feel safe venturing out, and businesses will not do well. By locating the virus and isolating those infected, the curve will dip downward, and the public will begin to feel safe and will venture out.

Ronald Marshall, Petoskey Not “Cool” Rep. Jack O’Malley’s (Mr. “It’s Complicated”) reported response to the armed “peaceful” protest in the Capitol against the Governor’s emergency executive order was: “Cool!”

I want to posit an alternative scenario: What if those armed “peaceful” protestors invading the state capital were black or Latino?

Would the Representative have thought that “cool”? Would he think it “cool” if armed “peaceful” protestors climbed the White House fence, forced themselves onto the White House lawn bearing AR-15’s, waving swastikas and Confederate flags, demanding to make a “deal” with Trump? Would Trump say they were “good people” and welcome them with open arms? I think not.

Snipers on top of the White House and around the perimeter of the White House would have opened fire, resulting in a lot of dead bodies and arrests. The very idea that O’Malley would think such protests are “cool” is mind-boggling and beyond irresponsible.

In a letter to me, O’Malley said he thinks it impossible to support the governor doing her utmost to save Michiganders’ lives when the daily count continues to escalate, spreading north from the Detroit area. Let me remind everyone: This is not a game. It’s an emergency.

When you lose your seat, Jack, the reasons won’t be “complicated!”

Sylvia McCullough, Interlochen Told You So Sigh. I said at the start of the panic-stricken reaction to this virus that the way to handle it was to go about our normal lives as we have during every such occurrence before this. If you’re sick, stay home; if not, live with normal precautions. But don’t destroy livelihoods by the millions by putting everyone under what amounts to house arrest, where, if one gets sick, all get sick.

It’s bad enough the way people have so easily given up their supposedly guaranteed rights, supposedly protected by government.

If I had a business, I would have stayed open and had Gov. Whitmer against a courtroom wall for violating my rights as a citizen of a free republic.

But I digress. Waiting for a vaccine is selfdefeating. There has never been a vaccine against a viral disease. We have drugs to make them more bearable, but they don’t cure them. (Cold medicines, for example.) So quit trying to slow the spread — that just keeps it around longer.

Instead, let it spread quickly and get it over with by getting as many people as possible vaccinated naturally and creating what’s called herd immunity. Most cases of coronavirus are mild, and the recovery rate is very high.

That’s natural vaccination. It’s probably what happened in California, where the infection graphs are nearly flat; the bug sneaked in, and

CONTENTS

a lot of people got mild cases and created the herd immunity.

Testing is a waste of time. There are no FDAapproved tests; that’s why Medicare won’t pay for them. One test could say positive, and the next Crime and Rescue Map....................................7 could say negative. Don’t waste your time.

Away From The Maddening Crowd...................10

features

Charles Knapp, Maple City One Book Every Woman Must Read.................13

Wear A Mask As a retired RN, I understand the science and importance of wearing a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, while working in labor and delivery during the AIDS/HIV crisis, all healthcare staff who had direct contact with patients practiced “universal precautions” — steps that included education, handwashing, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning of contaminated surfaces, and the safe handling/disposal of contaminated material.

We considered any patient that we had contact with as asymptomatic (i.e. infected but not yet displaying symptoms) and therefore practiced universal precautions until testing confirmed otherwise.

In today’s pandemic situation, it’s a fact there are asymptomatic people who can transmit COVID-19 to others without realizing they are. The use of cloth face masks, handwashing and social distancing have helped to prevent the spread of the disease within the community.

The benefit of wearing a face mask is not for me; but for you. I could be asymptomatic without knowing it and transmit to you. No one’s rights are being taken away. Wear a mask — it’s the “right” thing to do!

4 Edible Invaders............................................15 The Indomitable Spirit of Joe Maddy................16

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

Spectator/Stephen Tuttle...................................6 Opinion.............................................................8 Weird................................................................9 Cocktail Creations............................................12 Advice.......................................................17 Crossword..................................................17 Astro.........................................................18 Classifieds.................................................18

M. Fletcher, RN, BSN, MA, Bingham Township Rights and Wrongs A few questions for Ms. Matzinger [“Questions for Rep. Lee Chatfield” letter, May 18 issue] if I may.

By what criteria do you determine which universities graduates “world-class doctors”?

If you or a family member have the misfortune to have to go to the E.R. in a life or death situation, and the only doctor available is one that graduated from Liberty University, would you go to another E.R, or wait for one from the University of Michigan to arrive?

As far as the “gun-toting white men” acting menacingly, I see no proof of that in the news that I have watched. Most, if not all, were following the golden rule of gun safety and had their long guns pointed towards the sky or the ground, or in the case of a sidearm, in a holster. Also present were “gun-toting white men” who were law enforcement officers.

Do you think that they were carrying there weapon menacingly as well?

Where on earth did you get the idea that these “gun-toting white men” would start patrolling your neighborhood and “snatching masks off of people, or dragging them out of their homes, and making them shop and dine out against their will”? Do you realize just how ridiculous that sounds?

Who, or what gives you the right to demand that these “gun-toting white men should have to sign up for an “Opt Out” that would preclude them or a family member from receiving medical care for [COVID19]? Who died and named you the Ultimate Overseer? Most of those men were probably veterans, whom you should thank for preserving your rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and free speech, not condemning them because they are exercising their right to free speech. Your rights do not supersede theirs.

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

Kelly M. Croff, Alanson

Northern Express Weekly • june 01, 2020 • 3

this week’s

top ten Leelanau Movie No. 1 at Box Office

A low-budget horror movie filmed by two Michigan brothers in Leelanau County topped the national box office last week.

Brett and Drew Pierce’s The Wretched was the highest grossing movie in the U.S., with a take of $91,975, according to Box Office Mojo, an Amazon/IMDb-owned website that tracks film revenue. Credit to the film’s success is due in part to the pandemic; The Wretched is available on streaming platforms and has been playing at drive-in theaters.

Northern Express talked to Brett Pierce last summer, just before the film played at the Traverse City Film Festival. Pierce talked about making the horror movie in Leelanau County, primarily in Omena and Northport.

“It’s so beautiful,” Pierce said. “One of the things we’ve gotten complimented on, because we’ve had to test different edits of the movie and show it to people out here [in Los Angeles], is just how beautiful our locations are. We always get so many complements about it, and I’m just like, “It’s our home state. It’s Michigan.”

2 tastemaker

Photo courtesy of Mary Jo McElroy and Al Taylor

Good News: Petal Pushers Triumph for 27th Year in a Row You’d need a lot more than a pandemic to keep Onekama’s annual display of roadside petunias down. On May 27, the village’s Petunia Parade Committee and volunteers got to work transplanting 3,420 wee petunias alongside the village thoroughfare. The crews, wearing face masks made especially for the event by the Portage Lake Garden Club, worked in near 90-degree heat, between sudden shows of thunderstorms and lightning, to complete the herculean task for the 27th year in a row. Our garden hats are off to all of the volunteers, including growers Pleasanton Valley Greenhouses and soil remediators Larsen’s Landscaping, who donated their time (estimated to be 1,300+ hours total in 2019) to remind us in the prettiest way possible that it really does take a village.

4

Hey, read it!

we ride upon sticks

In 1629, the quiet town of Danvers, Massachusetts, served as the original site of the Salem Witch Trials. Fast-forward three centuries, and a new coven’s convened — and this time, they’re fighting fire with fire. The year is 1989, and the Danvers High School girl’s field hockey team is in the midst of a steady losing streak. In a last-ditch effort to salvage the season, they strike a dark deal with an “alternative” spirit. Armed with the support of their spell-casting ancestors, these femme fatales take the field by storm — that is, until their devilish tendencies take hold. In her quirky new novel “We Ride Upon Sticks,” author Quan Barry mixes hexes, hilarity, and hair as big as you remember for an truly original, fun, and dark read you do not want to wait to read at Halloween.

5 Flavor Billy Bob’s Boneyard Deep-Fried Potato Salad Billy Bob’s Boneyard is one of the newest food trucks in Kalkaska. Its specialty: homemade pulled pork. Available on sliders, macaroni and cheese, fries, nachos, and more, this succulent, sweet, and tangy pork is good enough to stand alone, but if you’re going to pair it with anything, do yourself a favor and pile it beside owner Lisa Dallas’ deep fried potato salad, made with a creamy, homemade horseradish sauce. Dallas created the unique dish on a whim, and it is a wonder.

“I just woke up one day and decided to try it. It has a different texture, with the creamy on the inside and the crunch on the outside,” Dallas said. “The homemade horseradish sauce gives it a little bite.”

If you can, save room for dessert — deep fried Oreos, of course. Just make sure to bring cash; no credit or debit cards are accepted.

Find Billy Bob’s Boneyard at 505 W. Mile Rd., in Kalkaska, 11am–6pm Mondays thru Saturdays. (231) 499-8656.

4 • june 01, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

6

Up North Casinos Reopening

Northern Michigan’s casinos are gambling that they can safely reopen as long as strict safety protocols are in place.

Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel and Leelanau Sands Casino & Lodge opens this weekend for the first time since March with stepped-up cleaning planned, and requirements including masks, social distancing, and temperature checks.

Odawa Casino in Mackinaw City opened a week earlier, followed by Odawa Casino in Petoskey this weekend.

Little River Casino Resort in Manistee plans to reopen June 1.

Each casino has established some kind of temperature monitoring program that will see guests who arrive with a fever asked to return home to recover or directed to medical care. To support social distancing, the casinos plan to limit the number of people allowed inside and each will only open certain games.

Q-Tip: Treat Yo’self with Flowers — Without Lifting a Finger Rumor has it, gardening is the hot hobby of stay-at-home summer 2020. But guess what other backyard pastime never goes out of style, folks? Lounging — cocktail in hand, body in hammock, and eyes at half-mast as much as possible until August ends. For those of us who see our all-too-brief northern Michigan summers as a means to attain next-level laziness, we not only salute you, we offer three ways to reap the fruits — er, flowers of others’ garden labors: Old Mission Flowers, Traverse City Ginny Coulter says her business plan is simple: “Grow amazing flowers and invite customers to come pick them.” There’s no cash register, no scanner, and no sales person, but her garden — bursting with whatever is blooming (narcissus, tulips, peonies, china asters, celosias, ageratums … ) is open every day, dawn to dusk, until October. Simply cut what you like, pop them in a provided jug, pail, or vase of water then drop cash or a check in the tube on her garden shed door. Find it about 14 miles up Old Mission Peninsula at 16550 Center Rd. (Driveway is accessible via Ladd Rd., on right.)

Leelanau Specialty Cut Flowers, Cedar You can stop by Michelle Shackelford’s flower farm stand (13435 S. Cedar Rd.) any day of the week, through mid-October, for oodles of fresh-cut, sustainably grown flowers (plus potted herbs, heirloom tomatoes, and dried lavender), but you can also sign up for a subscription: You’ll receive a weekly bouquet (four pickup locations available), through September, for $72 a month. Want to keep that fresh feeling going all year? Ask about her November and December wreaths and centerpieces, too. www.leelanauspecialtycutflowers.com Sow She Grows, Frankfort Charla Burgess’ flower shed and farm stand offerings are as flexible as it gets: Go for her otherworldly variety of a lá carte cut flowers, wearables, succulents (Kokedama ball, anyone?), wreaths, dried flower creations, jams, and homemade bread — or stay home and order up a weekly summer subscription (sample shown above), for an ultra-spry $60–$228.

(Mini-bouquet subscriptions available, too!) If you live in Frankfort, she’ll even deliver. Visit sow-she-grows-flower-farm.square.site/ or the shed at 1257 Fankfort Hwy.

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sally@keyhomestc.com

Stuff we love Toasting Counties That Do, In Fact, Hustle Harder Gaylord’s White Birch Outfitters — one of our favorite places to hit up for pretty (but, thank gawd, not precious) outdoorsy wear for women, sharp but rugged styles for men, and bike rentals for all — didn’t sit quietly through the shutdown. Nope, it designed, printed, and is still selling these factually accurate Koozies. In a major pay-it-forward move, the majority of the proceeds for these and other similarly branded gear went to the Otsego County COVID-19 Response Fund, which in turn did things like help meet the rapidly increased needs of the Otsego County Food Pantry (e.g., a 173 percent increase in demand in one week!), the New Life Pregnancy Resource Center (where requests for formula, diapers and wipes has tripled), and the Otsego County United Way, which in the first weeks of the shutdown mobilized more than 40 new volunteers, connected 100 individuals to critical services, and doled out nearly $1,000 to ensure 30 local restaurant workers got the dog food, prescriptions, baby formula, and personal care items they needed. Just in time for your next ride down the Iron Belle Trail, White Birch has reopened its Main Street shop. Stop in to see its hometown spirit and purchase a Koozie of your own ($5.99 each; also available at www.whitebirchoutfitters.com).

bottoms up left foot charley wine Left Foot Charley’s grapevine-lined outdoor patio — with a kiddie sandbox of toys on one side, a small creek babbling by, and the spires of the old state hospital soaring overhead— is (or was, pre-pandemic, anyway) the place to while away a warm summer’s day … and evening. Though the patio remains closed for now, Left Foot’s tasting room and its many local retailers can help you keep the sipping part of your summer tradition alive. Left Foot is now offering its curbside and window service noon to 6pm daily, plus $5 flat rate shipping for all packages of 3 or more bottles you order for delivery. Due to some recent flooding of the nearby creek — for which LFC offered a 10 percent discount per bottle for “dockside pickup” — we opted instead to grab a bottle closer to home, at The Dockside Party Store on TC’s west side. Our pick: longtime favorite, Murmur, a dry and madly flavorful mouthful that mixes pinot gris, pinot blanc, auxerrios, and chardonnay.

When chilled for a hot summer day, it’ll take you well into the night — patio optional. Find Left Foot Charley at 806 Red Dr. in the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, www.leftfootcharley.com; The Dockside at 13418 S W . Bayshore Dr./M-22.

231-499-5075

Northern Express Weekly • june 01, 2020 • 5

A BIG DAM PROBLEM

spectator

by Stephen Tuttle We have a serious dam problem.

Flavor

There are about 90,000 dams in the United States. The number is sketchy because the U.S. government only operates and maintains 1,500 of them, and the rest are operated by the state or private entities. Most are at least 60 years old, and failures are not uncommon. Since 1980, there have been an average of 24 dam failures a year, with at least one fatality and nearly all causing property damage.

According to the National Survey of Dams, more than 14,000 U.S. dams, with 10 million people in the flood plain below them, have a high potential for “failure causing fatalities.”

Of those, some 2,300 are considered an extreme hazard needing immediate repair.

You’d think every state would be more than a little concerned and make dam safety a high priority. You would be wrong. It’s seems to be less than a low priority.

the the Oroville spillway alone will cost at least $1.1 billion. But we aren’t really fixing any of them unless we absolutely must.

This dovetails nicely with the environmental movement calling for the removal of dams.

Last year, 99 dams, mostly small, were removed in an effort to return rivers to their natural state. But even that isn’t cheap or safe.

When they were removing the Brown Bridge dam here in Traverse City, a failure of the temporary river diversion sent most of Brown Bridge Pond cascading downriver, damaging or destroying 66 properties.

Removal of larger hydroelectric dams is expensive, requiring a significant commitment from state budget writers. The Glines Canyon Dam, in Washington state, cost $60 million to fully remove — part of a $350 million river restoration project.

Many now argue the Glen Canyon dam on the Colorado River should be decommissioned and removed. It creates the Lake Pow-

Our dam safety department?

Two inspectors, a supervisor, and a budget of less than $400,000. We’re hardly alone.

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We had a good taste of that recently when the Edenville dam north of Midland, which had previous structural violations, failed, and the Sanford dam downstream nearly did. More than 10,000 people were evacuated, and the resulting flooding did tens of millions of dollars of damage.

Those are just two of Michigan’s 2,500 dams.

Our dam safety department? Two inspectors, a supervisor, and a budget of less than $400,000. We’re hardly alone.

For example, Oklahoma has three inspectors for nearly 5,000 dams, Iowa has three for about 4,000. Alabama, which has nearly 2,700 dams, has no inspectors or dam safety program at all; they consider it unnecessary government regulation.

California is the gold standard of dam safety, with a $21 million annual budget. But that didn’t help much when its poorly engineered Oroville dam spillways collapsed, forcing the evacuation of 110,000 people downstream.

We don’t fix dams unless they are on the verge of collapse or have already failed.

States, which are primarily responsible for dam safety, don’t much like the price tag.

But by constantly delaying what needs to be done, we’ve made the price tag increase exponentially.

Flavor 6 • june 01, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

The American Society of Civil Engineers puts the cost to fix them all at $64 billion.

The Association of State Dam Safety Officials says it will be closer to $71 billion. Just fixing those posing the greatest threat to human life would approach $10 billion. Repairs to

ell reservoir, the second largest reservoir in the country, and provides electricity to about 6 million homeowners and businesses. But the dam has changed the downstream ecology for the worse. Lake Powell fills spectacular Glen Canyon, and loses huge amounts to evaporation. Both Lake Powell and Lake Mead, impounded by Hoover Dam, are at half-capacity, so draining the former and filling the latter makes some sense.

But Colorado River water, promised to seven states, four tribal nations, and Mexico, is controlled by the Colorado River Compact, and Lake Powell is part of the Compact. It would take an act of Congress and agreement from all 12 stakeholders to decommission any of the Colorado River dams, of which there are 15, with literally hundreds more of various shapes and sizes on the tributaries. Not so easy.

Just more than 50 percent of our renewable energy comes from hydroelectric power, which is about seven percent of the country’s total electricity needs — an additional incentive to keep some dams in good repair.

But we don’t inspect them all, we don’t repair them all, and it’s expensive and sometimes legally problematic to tear them down.

We should at least repair the thousands of dams posing an immediate hazard to people downstream. If we can’t do that, or are unwilling to do that, then we should safely remove those dams, regardless of the cost.

If we wait, as the operators of the Edenville dam did, it’ll be too late; a catastrophic failure is just one intense rain event away. The after-the-disaster costs, which will be considerable, will be our own damned fault.

Crime & Rescue MURDER AND SUICIDE INVESTIGATED Police in Manistee are investigating a murder, a suicide, and an attempted carjacking.

Manistee County Sheriff’s deputies were called to Potter Road in Onekama Township at 7:30am May 24 where 28-year-old Aundre Lamont Hernandez of Bear Lake had been shot several times. He did not survive.

Witnesses told deputies that the suspect pulled into a driveway on the road, shot Hernandez several times, and then left.

Just over an hour later, dispatchers got a report of another shooting on Coates Highway, near Brethren.

When deputies responded, no one had been shot, but witnesses described a vehicle involved that was similar to the one from the earlier shooting and said the suspect was attempting to carjack another vehicle.

The suspect was later tracked down by Michigan State Police in Wellston. It appeared that Stephen Gene-Henry Shawnoski had fled into the woods and is believed to have shot himself.

ASSAULT LEADS TO STANDOFF A man barricaded himself in a hotel room after a woman accused him of attempting to strangle her.

Mackinaw City Police were called to the hotel at 7:30pm May 21.

The man refused to come out of his room and threatened to harm himself with a knife; after an hour of negotiation, the man agreed to exit, but police said he resisted arrest as they attempted to detain him.

The man was taken to the Cheboygan County jail.

Vanslambrouck was involved in drug activity. They conducted a traffic stop and found a weapon, methamphetamine, heroin, suboxone, and a large amount of cash.

She was arrested for possession of meth with intent to deliver, among other charges. She was also wanted for retail fraud and possession of meth in Grand Traverse County, according to a press release.

MAN SHOOTS WIFE, HIMSELF State police investigated a murdersuicide in Cheboygan County.

Troopers were called to a home on Otsego Road in Wilmot Township on May 21 after a 79-yearold man called 911 to say that he had murdered his wife and was going to take his own life.

State police, Cheboygan County Sheriff’s deputies and DNR conservation officers responded to the scene, surrounded the home, and tried to make contact with someone inside.

Detectives got a search warrant to enter the home, where they found the man and his 76-yearold wife dead at the scene. The man had been acting as caretaker for his wife, who suffered from dementia.

emmet cheboygan

ERRATIC DRIVER ARRESTED Leelanau County Sheriff’s deputies received a report of a suspected drunk driver and arrested him during a traffic stop on M-22.

Deputies stopped the vehicle — which had been seen driving erratically on the highway — near East Carter Road in Elmwood Township at 1:14am May 26; after an investigation, they determined that the man was intoxicated and arrested him for second-offense drunk driving. Since there was also a 15-year-old passenger in the car, the man also faces a charge of child endangerment.

BENZIE WOMAN FACES DRUG CHARGES P o l i c e arrested a 35-yearold Honor woman on drugs and weapons charges.

Traverse Narcotics Team officers and Benzie County Sheriff ’s deputies got a tip in early May that Nicole

by patrick sullivan psullivan@northernexpress.com

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Northern Express Weekly • june 01, 2020 • 7

THE RED STATE/BLUE STATE FISCAL MYTHOLOGY opinion

BY Amy Kerr Hardin The last few years, and especially the past two months, is proof-positive that Republicans are the party of fiscal recklessness. There has been a persistent myth that they are the party of balanced budgets. Cutting the pork barrel is their self-generated myth. Republican voters, under the constant drumbeat of Fox News, have dug deep into this obvious falsehood.

The GOP and their corporate handlers are counting on that continued ignorance.

• Outdoor pool • Community lodge • Community activities • City water and sewer • Snow and Lawn Services available • New, pre-owned & custom homes from the $70’s to the $100’s • Pets welcome

As it turns out, those “tax and spend” liberals are the true fiscal wizards, often finding themselves in the position of cleaning up Republican economic boondoggles. (Thanks Obama.) The GOP is like the kid brother who’s constantly picking fights and needing the mature sibling to get them out of the mess they created.

The saying “GOP stands for Greed Over People” sure does seem to fit at times.

Republicans, please stop pretending you are fiscally responsible. Your elected officials are an economic train wreck every time.

Yet Republicans have mastered the art of projection by promoting the myth that Republican red states subsidize Democratic blue states — a claim that’s been thoroughly debunked. The Associated Press Fact Check, a shared effort of AP journalists around the globe to highlight falsehoods and ensure accountability in journalism, found the truth to be the exact opposite. The AP determined that blue states send more money to the federal government than they receive in return. Red states, it turns out, are the subsidy sponges.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has done his part in propagating this myth, saying “We [Republicans] are getting the federal government out of the business of subsidizing states. That’s going to impact high-tax states.”

That’s hogwash; AP Fact Check found that blue-state taxpayers typically provide two to three times more in federal tax dollars compared to red states. Additionally, red states nearly double their tax haul in terms of less tax paid and a higher federal subsidy rate.

Another piece of the mythology built up

by Republicans is that wealthy people, the supposed “job creators,” will leave high-tax states in favor of low-tax red states. Again, a bunch of malarkey invented to justify tax cuts for the rich. Sociologist Cristobal Young posits in his book “The Myth of Millionaire Tax Flight” that wealthy taxpayers do not seek residency in lower tax states; they prefer to not live in impoverished states.

Tax policy considerations that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should embrace should support strong education and improved employment opportunities to stave off the brain drain of young people seeking a better life elsewhere. Corporations weigh quality of life issues when deciding where to set up camp.

They want to attract those bright young minds.

8 • june 01, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

Another bit of red-state Republican propaganda is that they are all about “small government.” Agreed, but only because they have slashed their budgets to hand out tax breaks for the wealthy. Red states have a greater portion of their populations living in poverty with little or no social safety nets, leaving their state houses begging the federal

government for assistance. In other words, blue states are subsidizing red states.

In an effort to showboat their supposed disdain for big government, many red states turned down federal Medicaid expansion dollars, a decision that has turned out to be disastrous in the time of the pandemic. Why did they reject federal dollars? The money was meant to aid those struggling to pay for healthcare; it wasn’t a benefit to the rich. So why not take it?

Now, those states have not only lost health insurance for those most in need but also saw many of their hospitals shuttered due to the lack of affordable healthcare. In all, 14 Republicanled states have left their citizens in the lurch.

Prior to the pandemic, rejecting Medicaid expansion dollars primarily affected poor people. But now, middle-class workers who are losing their jobs and the ability to afford insurance is changing the demographics of the pool of uninsured and under-insured. The Urban Institute estimates that up to 43 million Americans will lose their healthcare. States that lack Medicaid expansion will experience a 40 percent decrease in insured citizens.

The most infamous example of red-state fiscal irresponsibility occurred in Kansas. It should serve as a lesson to Republicans who are overzealous in passing tax cuts for the rich.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback led Kansas over the fiscal cliff with what was termed the “red-state experiment.”

In 2012 and 2013, Kansas enacted tax cuts that primarily benefitted the wealthy. This caused a sharp decline in state revenues and led to a series of draconian spending cuts. Republicans gutted the budget in favor of appeasing millionaires.

Things rapidly went from bad to unbearable.

The situation became so dire that, in 2017, the Republican legislature overturned the tax cuts it had previously made and overrode the governor’s attempt to veto that repeal.

Brownback used the same GOP talking points that Trump rolled out to support his massive tax cut. The governor sold his plan as “our new pro-growth tax policy,” claiming it “will be like a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy.”

It wasn’t.

The Sunflower State became the poster child for the failure of regressive tax policies. Rather than implementing tried and true fiscal policies (like increased minimum wage and paid-leave benefits), which research indicates does stimulate economies, Brownback went with the deeply flawed Reagan-era mantra of trickle-down economics.

You’d think, by now, the average Republican voter would figure out they’re getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

Nope.

Amy Kerr Hardin is a retired banker, regionally known artist, and public-policy wonk. You can hear and learn more about the state of Michigan politics on her podcast, www.MichiganPolicast.com.

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Fun With Mannequins Some sports teams eager to return to the field have taken to placing cardboard figures of fans in stadium seats to enhance the experience for viewers, but the FC Seoul soccer club in South Korea was forced to apologize May 18 after propping up sex dolls in the seats for its match against Gwangju FC, The New York Times reported. “We had tried to add some fun in the no-spectator match,” the club explained. “But we have not checked all the details, and that is clearly our fault.” “Details” included the buxom physiques and obvious logos of sex toy marketers on the dolls’ clothing that fans watching quickly noticed. “We had confirmed that although the mannequins were made to look just like real people, they had nothing to do with adult products,” the statement said, but the club admitted it had neglected to do a background check of the supplier, which makes sex dolls.

Dinner at the renowned three-Michelinstar Inn at Little Washington in Virginia can set diners back a pretty penny -- unless they’re not eating. When the Inn opens on May 29, some of its patrons will be mannequins, reported the Associated Press, attired in fancy 1940s clothing and placed strategically at tables to help with social distancing. “We’re all craving to gather and see other people right now,” said Patrick O’Connell, the Inn’s proprietor and chef. “They don’t all necessarily need to be real people.”

Rebellion Served Cold An unnamed ice cream shop in Hong Kong is offering tear gas-flavored ice cream in support of the region’s pro-democracy movement, reports the Associated Press. The shop’s owner explained he wanted “to make a flavor that reminds people that they still have to persist in the protest movement and don’t lose their passion.” “It tastes like tear gas,” said customer Anita Wong. “It feels difficult to breathe at first, and it’s really pungent and irritating. It makes me want to drink a lot of water immediately.” The owner tried several different combinations to achieve the flavor and found that black pepper came the closest. Before coronavirus restrictions, he said the store was selling 20 to 30 scoops per day.

Just Funny University of Arizona wildlife biology professor Michael Bogan caught Saturday morning cartoons as they came to life in a video he recorded of a coyote chasing a roadrunner May 9 in downtown Tucson. Bogan could be heard on his recording saying, “There is literally a coyote chasing a roadrunner. I can’t believe it.

That is a straight-up cartoon.” The reenactment of the classic setup between Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner caught Bogan’s attention near the Santa Cruz River, Fox News reported. And, as life often imitates art, the real roadrunner escaped unharmed from the wily coyote.

The Passing Parade Police responding to a reported shooting in Poughkeepsie, New York, early on May 17, arrived to find a very drunk 35-year-old man from the Bronx who claimed he’d been shot in the buttocks, which caused him to fall and hit his head. The Hudson Valley Post reported the unnamed victim was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for his head injury, but doctors could find no evidence he’d been shot. There was no bullet hole in his buttocks, X-rays showed no bullet lodged inside his buttocks, and his pants had no holes in them, police said. Witnesses nearby were also intoxicated and unable to provide any clarification. When officers

pressed the victim about his story, he became uncooperative and said, “I didn’t pull a gun.”

Homeschooling Gone Wild Parents have lodged complaints with the Archbishop Sentamu Academy in Hull, England, after discovering their seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders were sent an exercise asking them to define pornography, soft pornography, hardcore pornography and other sensitive subjects, such as human trafficking and female genital mutilation. Hull Live reported on May 19 that the assignments were made as part of the school’s sex education course, but one parent, identified as Mrs. Taylor, said if her daughter had searched these terms on the internet, the results would have “destroyed her mind” and “scarred her for life.” The school responded saying, “Students were not directed to research these topics themselves on the internet because all the answers ... were contained in the teacherproduced materials we shared.” Principal Chay Bell apologized: “I am genuinely sorry for any upset caused at this difficult time.”

Why Not? In Japan, people are enlisting the help of a long-forgotten mythical creature believed to ward off plagues in their battle against the coronavirus. Amabie, a mermaidlike being, first appeared in Japanese folklore in 1846, when she was reported to have appeared to a government official and predicted a rich harvest and a pandemic. She told the man the pandemic could be thwarted by drawing her likeness and sharing it with as many people as possible, BBC reported on April 23. Now, images of the spirit are appearing over five continents, and in Japan, face masks and hand sanitizer with her image are popular. One long-haul driver painted her on the side of his truck, saying, “I travel all over the country with my (goods) and Amabie to pray for the disease to go away.”

Even the country’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has joined in, tweeting an image of Amabie and encouraging people to “prevent the spread of the virus.”

Going the Extra Mile A nurse in the western Russian city of Tula has been disciplined for “noncompliance with the requirements for medical clothing” after photos appeared on social media of her wearing only a bra and panties under transparent PPE on a COVID-19 men-only ward. The unnamed nurse told her superiors at the Tula Regional Clinical Hospital that wearing clothing under the PPE was “too hot” and that she didn’t realize the protective gear was see-through. The Scottish Sun reported on May 20 that patients didn’t seem to mind, though one admitted there was “some embarrassment.”

Oops On May 15, staff at a Hamilton, Ontario, retirement home transferred all of its residents to a hospital because of an outbreak of COVID-19. That is, except for one. The following evening, after repeated alerts from the man’s family, he was discovered in his room at the Rosslyn Retirement Residence by a security officer who had been dispatched to look for him. He was “alert” and was subsequently transferred to the hospital, the CBC reported. “This was clearly not something anybody would have intended to do,” and the lack of a master list of residents contributed to the snafu, said Winnie Doyle, executive vice president of clinical operations at the hospital where most of the residents were sent. “This was ... extremely distressing.”

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Northern Express Weekly • june 01, 2020 • 9

AWAY FROM THE MADDENING CROWD Your summer hike hot list 1

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By Todd VanSickle Current affairs might have kiboshed many of our traditional summer events and festivals, but the hiking season is still on in northern Michigan.

With more than 12,000 miles of hiking trails throughout the state, and — let’s be honest — some of the prettiest of the multitude up here, there are hundreds of options to explore.

If you’re not yet familiar with what’s out there or simply looking to expand your usual circle of strolls this season, land conservancies are a great place to start; they maintain dozens of natural areas and preserves miles of well-marked trails throughout northern Michigan.

Best of all, these pristine properties are open to the public, require no entrance fee, and are often under the radar of many meaning you’ve got a good chance of having a chunk of the trail — or at least 6 feet of it — all to yourself.

To keep your adventures feeling fresh all summer long, we tapped the Little Traverse Conservancy and the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy to help us compile a summer 2020 hot list of quick and easy hikes — a few old favorites, plus several coming-soon spots you simply must experience. Try some or try them all. You can find more details, directions, and trail maps at www.gtrlc.org and www.landtrust.org.

OPENING SOON! 1. The Upper Manistee Headwaters: The Milock Family Preserve Location: Kalkaska County Acres: 1,288 Trails: 7 miles Until the Boy Scouts consolidated their Michigan camps a few years ago, this nearly 1,300-acre haven of woods and water was home for 80 years to Camp Tampico. After a three-year, nearly $4 million fundraising campaign following Tampico’s closure, however, it became GTRLC’s newest and second-largest preserve, The Upper Manistee Headwaters: The Milock Family Preserve.

It won’t open to the public until some time after July 25 (keep track by tuning in to www.facebook.com/GTRLC), but we’re certain it’ll be worth the wait.

A series of trails, both long and short, will take hikers to and around the spring-fed Grass Lake.

“The trails are going to be beautiful, and there’s a lot to see out there,” said Jennifer Jay, director of communications and engagement for the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy. “It’s got a really diverse habitat.

There are tons of beautiful plants and wildlife, including some threatened endangered species, like the Red Shoulder Hawk.”

Add to the mix several kettle-hole ponds, mixed forests and fields, and many types of wetlands, and, said Jay, “I think you could spend several days out there and not have covered everything.”

10 • june 01, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

2. Maplehurst Natural Area Location: Milton Township, Kewadin Acres: 389 Trails: 3.5 miles Maplehurst Natural Area was a former summer camp from 1955 to 2011. GTRLC helped Milton Township acquire the property in 2018 through a grant and fundraising efforts.

“It was one of the largest remaining undeveloped parcels near Torch Lake,” Jay said.

The trailhead is located at the parking lot and overlooks an expansive field that slopes down to Lake Maplehurst. On the horizon, Elk Lake and Grand Traverse Bay can been seen on a clear day. Take a left at the start, and the trail winds along a steep ridge in a hardwood forest, where glimpses of Torch Lake shimmer through the branches.

The trail, peppered with large stones and boulders, eventually descends down the ridge, leaving hikers looking up at towering beech and maple trees.

The loop finishes with a short, flat trail that skirts the east side of the 60-acre spring-fed lake. Hikers will also encounter the remains of an old ski lift and tow rope on the northeast side of the property. Note: The trails are open to mountain bikers as well. The property has 3.5 miles of trails, but an additional 2.5 to 3 miles are planned for later this year.

ACCESSIBLE TRAIL COMING SOON! 3. Timbers Recreational Area Location: Long Lake Township Acres: 250 acres Trails: 4.4 miles A lesser-known hike close to Traverse City is the former Girl Scout camp on Long Lake, Timbers Recreational Area. The property offers up-close looks at historic barns and outbuildings, plus trails that loop around the 20-acre Fern Lake.

“It has a variety of habitats, including some open field, which is great for kite flying,” Jay said. “It’s also a nice place for a family picnic, but there are opportunities for fishing, hiking, and wildlife viewing, too.”

The recreational area will soon have a universally accessible trail that will lead to a fishing platform at Fern Lake.

“Because of the [COVID-19] situation right now, construction has been pushed back,” Jay said. “It was supposed to have been done at the end of this month. As it is, it’ll be sometime later in the summer.”

The property includes 9,000 feet of Long Lake, with hiking along some of its shore.

There are some unmarked two-tracks also slated for future trail and infrastructure development.

“Timbers has become really a favorite place for people to go,” Jay said. “It’s big. It feels sometimes like you have the entire place to yourself. And yet it has something for everyone.”

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4. Railroad Point Natural Area Location: Benzie County Acres: 207 acres Trails: 1.3 miles For more than 20 years, GTRLC has not only protected Railroad Point Natural Area but also made 10 additions to the property.

The preserve is located on Crystal Lake and has a wildlife corridor to Betsie River.

The Mary Margaret Johnson trailhead, off Mollineaux Road, is an easy one-mile hike to a high bluff that overlooks Crystal Lake.

In 2018, a staircase was constructed that goes down the hill from the bluff to the Betsie Valley Trail — the Charlie Kehr Memorial Trail Connector. The Betsie Valley Trail runs along the natural area’s Crystal Lake frontage.

“It’s a pretty cool place to ride your bike on the Betsie Valley Trail, get off at the Railroad Point Natural Area, climb those stairs to the top, and take a beautiful hike on the Mary Margaret Johnson trail. And then you can jump back on your bike and grab ice cream in Frankfort,” said Jay. “It is my favorite day trip.”

5. Ransom Lake Natural Area Location: Grand Traverse County, Almira Township Acres: 220 acres Trails: 1.8 miles The Ransom Lake loop starts off as a universally accessible trail that runs along Ransom Creek to a deck overlooking the lake.

The first half-mile is a picturesque hike along the babbling sandy-bottom Ransom Creek.

“It is something I really like to talk about with people, because it’s kind of like a secret,” Jay said. “It is a sweet place.”

Once you reach the lake, head north over a small bridge to begin the loop around Ransom Lake. The trail becomes narrower but is easy to navigate even when it traverses through a cedar swamp. Throughout the hike, there are several benches to rest on and

Photo by Todd VanSickle

take in views of the lake. More than halfway around the loop, you’ll find a small bridge that crosses Bellows Creek, which feeds Ransom Lake. All told, the loop takes about 25 minutes.

You can access two trailheads from Bellows Lake Road; the third trailhead, located off Lake Ann Road, has a pit toilet.

OPENING SOON! 6. Offield Family Viewlands Working Forest Reserve Location: Harbor Springs, Emmet County Acres: 290 Trail: 4 miles As Northern Express recently reported, the Little Traverse Conservancy acquired the Offield Family Viewlands Working Forest Reserve on April 22 and plans to open it to the public by mid-June. The reserve was formally known as the Little Traverse Golf Course, but Kieran Fleming, Little Traverse Conservancy’s executive director, said the golf course will no longer be operational. Instead, the property will be used for biking, walking dogs (on a leash), hiking, and — come winter — snowshoeing and cross-country skiing “Right now, the number one goal is just to make it so people can use it,” Fleming said.

“Part of that is creating trail connections between those golf cart passes, because most go out to a tee, and then you’re walking into the fairway. We are going to have several connections along the way so that people can do loops in sort of a logical fashion.”

Hikers can expect to take in views of Little Traverse Bay and Crooked Lake. The Conservancy also plans to conduct some restoration work by planting meadow grasses, wildflowers, and native trees.

“This is going to be our premier property,” Fleming said. “This is going to be a magnificent place. No matter what part of northern Michigan nature you love, there will be some of it there for anybody.”

7. Hoogland Family Nature Preserve Location: M-119, Emmet County Acres: 100 Trail: 1.5-mile loop This preserve offers a short easy hike on mostly flat land on the west side but has rolling ridges to the east. The hike takes about 40 minutes. The preserve is filled with red oak, maple, and beech trees, and right now, blanketed with native trillium flowers.

“It is a shorter, wonderful little hike,” Fleming said.

Located along the M-119 Scenic Heritage Route — better known as the Tunnel of Trees — getting to this preserve is just as beautiful as the hike itself.

8. Allan and Virginia McCune Nature Preserve Location: Emmet County Acres: 168 Trail: 3.5 miles In 1984, Allan and Virgina McCune donated this land to the LTC. In 2017, the Purchis family, who had homesteaded the land, donated an addition, dedicating its trails to Allan Purchis.

“McCune is just a beautiful trail system,” Fleming said. “But right across the road, we have acquired what we call our Canton Working Forest Reserve, and we’re developing our first mountain bike enhanced trail and that this summer. You’ll be able to have mountain biking trails on the east side of the road and beautiful hiking trails on the west side of the road.”

The property features lowland marshy areas with cedar and hemlock trees. The spring-fed Minnehaha Creek runs through the land, and there are two footbridges on the hike. Visitors can choose to start from two parking areas: one off Maxwell Road and the other off Berger Road.

9. Duncan Bay Nature Preserve Location: Cheboygan Acres: 145 Trail: .9-mile round trip Duncan Bay Nature Preserve is just a short distance from downtown Cheboygan.

Last summer saw the completion of a new 1,800-foot boardwalk that takes visitors all the way to Duncan Bay in Lake Huron.

There’s also an overlook platform where visitors can see the Crib Light, the 14-Foot Shoal Lighthouse, and the Mackinac Bridge.

Most of the preserve consists of Lake Huron wetlands and is abundant with waterfowl and other birds.

10. DEADMAN’S HILL LOOP Location: Antrim County Trail: 3.1-mile loop Deadman’s Hill is a favorite spot for folks looking for fall colors — its views of the Jordan Valley are breathtaking — but don’t discount the lush views of this green valley (or miss the many stands of wild berry bushes lining its lowland trails) in summer.

You can start the 3.1-mile loop from the hill’s sun-drenched scenic overlook; from there the trail drops quickly — with a .5-mile descent — into the cool valley. Keep an eye out for tree identification signs, including an admirable elm that somehow survived Dutch Elm disease. The path will lead to the River Study Area observation deck and continue across several feeder streams, where you’ll encounter those aforementioned raspberry and blackberry bushes. (Note to hungry hikers: If the weather cooperates, they usually start bearing fruit by late July and into August and September.)

Eat your fill and continue walking; just be sure to stay on the Deadman’s Hill Loop if you’d like to keep your walk to 3.1 miles. The Jordan River Pathway — an 18-mile loop — merges with the North Country Trail along the way, often confusing hikers who aren’t familiar with the trails.

Northern Express Weekly • june 01, 2020 • 11

cocktail creations june splash, brought to you by 123Speakeasy

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blue moon martini

For this month’s cocktail, we’re keeping it simple with ingredients that are easily found at liquor stores. It’s refreshing in the summer heat, and a little extra attention to the garnish goes a long way. The second full moon in a calendar month is called the Blue Moon, and it’s just as uncommon two have two lemon garnishes in one cocktail. So double the garnish, find a comfortable lawn chair, and enjoy being a little over the top!

Ingredients • 2 ounces gin • 1 ounce fresh lemon juice • 0.5 ounce creme de violette Slice two rings from a fresh lemon, cut away the pulp from the ring so you have one long peel.

Juice the remainder of the lemon, then twist peels into Curly-Q shape. Pour gin, creme de violette, and the fresh lemon juice into a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake for 20 seconds.

Strain into martini glass and place the two peels on top. Enjoy!

Difficulty: Try this drink at home, and stay safe! 123Speakeasy’s Blue Moon Martini will be available when it’s safe to reopen.

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12 • june 01, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

Alongside barstools, we offer family-style arrangements of authentic Victorian and Eastlake seatin 231.753.8841 www.123speakeasy.com Our drinks and food are all presented in a curated collection of vintage crystal and glassware.

We proudly use the best local, seasonal, organic, and foraged ingredients in our drinks and food.

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One Book Every Woman Must Read

By Clark Miller One hundred years ago, American women were not “given” the right to vote.

They earned it, through seven decades of struggle. All that time, they held to the simple argument that withholding voting rights for half of this country’s citizens was wrongheaded and blatantly undemocratic.

On Thursday, June 11, the National Writers Series celebrates that centennial with an online appearance by award-winning journalist Elaine Weiss, who will discuss her book, “The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote.”

Ultimately, the deciding battle over suffrage came in Tennessee, a bastion of white (male) power, chauvinism, archconservative religion and entrenched Southern racism. All of those forces came together to defend the status quo.

Many (though not all) elected officials there aligned themselves enthusiastically (and often profitably) with corporate interests — in particular those of the powerful railroad lobby. Also, as hard as it might be to imagine today, a significant number of women in Tennessee and elsewhere fought hard against suffrage to ensure their “more refined” gender was “protected” from the rough and tumble world of politics.

Racism was the black elephant in the room. Though rarely spoken of explicitly, defenders of the Old South knew that if white women got the vote, it meant African American women would, too. That, they decided, couldn’t be allowed.

Meanwhile, fire-breathing religious leaders — of whom there were more than a few in the South — gave cover to male dominance by belittling the intelligence of women. As Rev. T.H. Harrison of Nashville’s Adams Presbyterian Church opined, “When you hand her the ballot box, you simply give her a club to knock her brains out [and] ….a coffin in which to bury the dignities of womanhood.”

Northern Express interviewed Weiss about “The Woman’s Hour,” the historical context in which women finally won the vote, and leaders on both sides of the issue.

Express: Congratulations on a deeply researched book. You’ve brought to life quite a cast of characters. One early reviewer remarked that several of them would fit well in a novel.

Weiss: [laughs] I’m not a fiction writer, but it’s interesting when a reader says, “I really loved your novel.” But if it reads like a novel, that’s great. I picked three people who demonstrate the nature of the fight. My goal

was to show them as flesh and blood people [and] not as “helpmates” or victims.

competition. Basically, railroads wanted to keep things as they were.

Express: What about Carrie Catt, leader of the mainstream National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)?

Express: As you describe it, the passage was anything but assured that summer in Tennessee.

Weiss: Catt is probably my lead character.

She was a master strategist, a famous orator known all over the world, a protégé of Susan Anthony, and a leader of the international women’s suffrage movement.

Weiss: Yes. Imagine 70 years of active campaigning for the political franchise.

Express: And Sue White, of the more militant pro-suffrage Women’s Party?

Weiss: If there hadn’t already been all those decades of fighting for the vote, the war might not have been such a tipping pint. Until then, not a lot seems to get done. But then the war comes. Women pledge fealty and go to work.

Many served on farms – often in uniform as members of the Woman’s Land Army. They demanded to be paid prevailing wages. They took jobs in munitions factories and worked as train conductors -– all roles traditionally considered suitable only for men. And they did it to save the nation, which made it harder for politicians to say that women are frail, not bright, and too emotionally unstable to vote, arguments that now ring so hollow. So WWI becomes the spark.

Weiss: Sue White left the NAWSA to join the Women’s Party. She wanted to become a lawyer, so for her, it was not only about the vote but also about opportunities. She got tired of waiting, being polite. She was ready to be confrontational. Her group was very unpopular in Tennessee. Later, she became a lawyer and worked in the [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt administration.

Express: And on the other side of the issue, we meet Josephine Pearson. In many ways, Pearson and the other women who fought against getting the vote are a mystery to me. Why would they fight against their own self-interest?

Weiss: Pearson was the personification of the anti-suffragist Southern woman. She grew up in a conservative minister’s family.

Her mother was a strident temperance organizer and racist who supported the idea that a woman’s place is in the home. Pearson espoused the “Southern view” of suffrage.

Express: What do you mean by the “Southern view”?

Weiss: That it is beneath women’s dignity and “purity” to be involved in voting.

Express: It may surprise readers that railroads were also staunch opponents of the movement.

Weiss: Railroads always needed government help with right-of-ways, eminent domain, all kinds of things. And they had a very effective lobbying apparatus both in Congress and in the States to make sure they got what they wanted. They used money, gave free rail passes to legislators and did other “favors.” That was especially true in 1920s. The railroads had been nationalized during the war. They took a hit. Also, the rise of automobiles and highways meant

For Traverse City area news and events, visit TraverseTicker.com

Express: How did World War I affect the suffrage movement?

Express: And what about voter suppression efforts today? It seems to be an abiding theme in America.

Weiss: Yes, it’s still relevant. Some states are restricting the vote. Today, voting rights have been cast as a partisan issue, and that’s dangerous. It’s really a test of our democracy. I’m very concerned about laws that suppress voters.

The June 11 National Writers Series (free) event starts at 7 p.m. and will take place remotely via Zoom. Participants can register at: bit.ly/ElaineWeissNWS. NWS is also bundling Elaine Weiss’s book and a dozen Morsels for $30 if you order by June 8. See www.nationalwritersseries.org.

BOOKWORM ALERT On June 25, the National Writers Series will host another Zoom event, this one with William Kent Krueger, author of “This Tender Land.” The novel, said to strike an extraspecial note with fans of “Before We Were Yours” and “Where the Crawdads Sing,” follows four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression. Stay tuned to www.nationalwritersseries.org for more details and how to register.

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Northern Express Weekly • june 01, 2020 • 13

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4 EDIBLE INVADERS TO HELP YOU STAY OUT OF THE STORE

By Clay Bowers Northern Michigan might be opening up, but the pandemic is far from over. So as long as you’re limiting your grocery visits and making the great outdoors your go-to spot for entertainment, why not make our fields and forest your own personal mini-market? They’re erupting now with young, wild edible plants that are not only delicious but so abundant that harvesting them will also help out our local ecosystems.

Note: Before you begin foraging for any wild edible, you need two things: permission to harvest, and proper identification skills. Never eat a plant or mushroom that you cannot confidently identify. Use these photos to start your search but consult a botanical guidebook or a knowlegable, experienced forager before harvesting anything. Although humans have safely eaten wild plants for the last 300,000 years, eating the wrong species could result in a painful stomachache — or worse.

WATERCRESS (Nasturtium officinale)

NARROW LEAF CATTAIL (Typha angustifolia)

WILD PARSNIPS (Pastinaca Sativa)

GARLIC MUSTARD (Alliaria petiolata)

This aquatic invasive species forms thick mats in creeks and slower moving rivers. It’s typically so abundant that one can gather enough food for a meal in a matter of minutes. This species has been eaten by humanity since ancient times, and there is ample evidence of major nutritional value. One caveat: Watercress should only be harvested from pure and clean water sources. I steer clear of harvesting this plant anywhere downstream of factories or farms. While most folks enjoy eating watercress raw, I personally enjoy it more in its cooked form. If you do insist on eating it raw, make sure to wash it vigorously; giardia and other aquatic bacteria can live on this species.

Although still hotly debated, most botanists consider narrow leaf cattail a non-native invasive species. That’s lucky for us because cattail shoots are a wonderful way to enjoy a highly nutritious vegetable from the wild that is both easy to pick and extremely widespread. Go out into a nearby marsh that’s been taken over by these plants and start pulling the shoots —the central green stems — from their rhizomes, aka roots. After peeling off the outer layers of leaves, you’ll find an underlying white portion of the stem that’s absolutely delicious. Wash each of them thoroughly — some folks like to soak the spikes in white vinegar for 20 minutes, rinse in fresh water — and then use in salads, soups, or pickled for an excellent snack to enjoy alongside dinner.

Frying them in butter or boiling them in salted water, then dressing with a bit of salt and butter, is also delicious. As with the watercress, do not harvest cattails of any species if it is growing in a questionable water source.

One of the most despised of all plants in our region due to the burns they cause, Pastinaca Sativa is very abundant but extremely delicious. In fact, this is the exact same species grown in the garden and gone wild. In order to safely handle these plants, one need only obey the laws of “furanocoumarins” (the chemicals that can cause a burn): Wear gloves to handle, and never break the leaves or get the plant’s sap on your skin. If you do get some on your skin, do not allow that area to see sunlight for a day or so; furanocoumarins react with ultraviolet light to prompt painful blisters.

(The same thing occurs with lime juice.)

Furanocoumarins aside, wild parsnips are tasty, healthy, and often large enough that even the most lazy of foragers could harvest enough for dinner in two or three minutes. We devote a lot of energy to harvesting these taproots in the fall and the early spring months. Our favorite way to eat these of the carrot family members is to puree them for use in soups. You can also blanch the stems and greens in boiling salted water for two to three minutes, then toss them with finely diced onions, soy sauce, and a bit of salt and pepper, or lemon juice and olive oil.

The bane of many a local conservationist today, garlic mustard is a noxious weed whose secreted toxins kill beneficial soil fungi other plants need, but it was once considered valuable and originally brought to these lands because of its edibility. While most people only eat it raw or in pesto, I find those limited methods are a surefire way to get burned out on any green. Cooking garlic mustard ensures that you’ll harvest larger quantities than would be used if only eaten raw. To harvest, pull this plant up by the roots, which taste a lot like horseradish, and make sure to bag the entire plant to prevent seeds from spreading. You can use the roots as part of a puree; the greens — the youngest and best tasting tend to be lime green in color — fresh in salads or as part of the aforementioned pesto; or cooked in a little garlic, oil, and water for a tasty five-minute sauté. As for those dangerous seeds? They’re a great complement to spicy foods, but if you’re not eating them, bag them for the trash — not the compost pile. You’ll be doing a service to the native plants in your community.

Interested in learning more about eating invasive species and other wild plants? Check out www.eattheinvaders. org for the former and www. nomiforager.com for both.

Northern Express Weekly • june 01, 2020 • 15

By Ross Boissoneau Interlochen Center for the Arts has survived everything thrown at it: Near-financial ruin, the Great Depression, the Great Recession, even World War II. Now it’s up against an opponent no one saw coming: the novel coronavirus. And while the Interlochen Arts Festival concerts have been canceled and the campus at Interlochen Center for the Arts will not welcome thousands of young arts enthusiasts from around the globe this summer, it will continue to operate — just on the virtual plane.

The organization’s smooth pivot would no doubt please founder Joe Maddy, though he probably wouldn’t be surprised. After all, in 1928 he turned a resort hotel and summer camps for boys and girls in Interlochen into a worldrenowned arts institution.

Mr. Maddy

Born in 1891 to musician parents in Kansas, Joesph Maddy and his brother, Harry, both dropped out of high school because their didn’t offer any music classes. He opted instead to attend Bethany College of Music and Fine Arts, then transferred to the Wichita College of Music. After performing with orchestras and in jazz clubs, and holding other musical jobs, he eventually landed the position of supervisor of music for the Ann Arbor Public Schools and head of the music department at the University of School Music, which was affiliated with the University of Michigan.

It was while he was at U of M that Maddy came up with the idea of a summer home for a National High School Symphony Orchestra, comprised of outstanding high school musicians from throughout the country. He posted an ad seeking a suitable location for the camp in the Detroit Free Press and received a response from Willis Pennington, who owned a hotel and camp in the tiny, rustic town of Interlochen. Upon reaching an agreement with Pennington, he began constructing the camp, buoyed by loans from instrument manufacturers and gifts from Carl D. Greenleaf, head of the C. G. Conn Company (an instrument manufacturer), and Traverse City bankers. THe National Music Camp opened in 1928.

THE LONGVIEW

This is where you’d expect to read how the camp was immediately a smashing success. It was, artistically, but it lost $40,000 that first year — the equivalent of nearly $600,000 today. To keep it going, Maddy sold debenture bonds, as well as expanding the offerings to include a college division and band students. It was at this juncture that the Great Depression further exacerbated the financial problems, while at the same time Maddy experienced personal and professional challenges: His marriage disintegrated, and he butted heads with T.P. Giddings, a mentor with whom he’d worked to establish the National High School Symphony Orchestra and then the National Music Camp.

Despite those challenges and many others, some 90 years later, Interlochen is still here. “It took 20 years to get on solid [financial] footing,” said Leo Gillis. The head of Special Collections and Archives at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Gillis said the key to its survival lay largely in Maddy’s constant search for ways to expand the camp’s reach.

“Finding ways to widen the circle, build a bigger tent … his first challenge was getting the campers so he could grow the community. The decision to make the camp bigger cost money in the short term,” said Gillis.

Maddy was nothing if not resourceful.

Beginning in 1930, the Sunday concerts of the camp orchestra were broadcast across the country by the CBS and NBC radio networks. For many years, commercial radio was a major source of outreach and income. In 1942, when many camp counselors were drafted and a strike by the American Federation of Musicians prohibited Interlochen from broadcasting on commercial networks, Maddy recruited personnel from the University of Michigan and began broadcasting instead from Michigan State University, without missing a concert.

Sometimes the changing circumstances led to solutions that helped the institution to flourish down the road. For example, during the Depression, renowned composer and conductor John Philip Sousa visited the camp; his concerts filled the campus’s first venue, the Interlochen Bowl. Today, of course, Interlochen is known for

Photos courtesy of ARTICA, the Archives of Interlochen Center for the Arts

The Indomitable Spirit of Joe Maddy Interlochen pivots again the many outstanding musical guests who perform there, many of whom are Interlochen alumni.

In addition, the fact there were fewer campers during the Depression years forced Maddy and company to turn to other means of financing the National Music Camp. That led to the solicitation of philanthropy, which today is another of the elements that has allowed Interlochen to thrive.

Class offerings were expanded as well, with drama in the form of radio theater beginning in 1938, art in 1939, and dance the following year.

“Donors, revenue, and tuition [were] a result of expanding the community,” noted Gillis.

Interlochen’s growing fame also expanded the center’s reach. Concerts at the New York World’s Fair and in films helped cement its reputation, as did later shows such as the dancers and orchestra performing for President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy on the White House lawn. Appearances by famed musicians such as Van Cliburn brought crowds onto campus.

The camp still faced challenges, both external (plans to develop a nearby prison camp and a federal air force base were both defeated) and internal (staff expansion and moving staff permanently from Ann Arbor to Interlochen).

A long-running dispute with the American Federation of Musicians barring members from teaching or performing at Interlochen was finally resolved in 1957.

COME SEPTEMBER

One of Maddy’s long-held ambitions was to establish an arts school outside of the summer camp season. That dream became a reality in 1962. Today the Interlochen Arts Academy is the “off-season” arm of Interlochen Center for the Arts, while Interlochen Arts Camp (formerly the National Music Camp, so renamed in 1991) annually hosts 3,000 students.

16 • june 01, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

That is, it did until this year. Through Maddy’s unexpected death in 1966 and a succession of presidents since then, Interlochen has always welcomed the summer campers.

Now, the threat posed by the pandemic has forced Interlochen to abandon its planned summer camp season for the first time ever.

Instead, like so many other institutions, it will be pivoting to the digital world, offering a virtual camp.

Current Interlochen President Trey Devey acknowledged the restrictions imposed by the novel coronavirus have changed the way the institution will provide its educational offerings.

But he sees positives coming out of this situation as they did in previous challenges. “Institutional resilience has been a hallmark of Interlochen. In 90 years it’s seen ups and downs, and Interlochen has always found a way,” he said.

This summer, that way will be through the use of the worldwide connectivity offered by the internet. “One thing that’s really helpful … is we’ve been building our capabilities for online instruction. We’re using tools like Zoom but also specific technology. Canvas is the main one,” said Devey, referring to the open distancelearning platform used by many schools across the country.

“It’s extraordinarily challenging for all arts and educational institutions, and we’re a combination,” Devey said. “We have an amazing IT team, and that’s helped us pivot.”

Profits from the summer concerts went toward scholarship funding, which means that funding will take a significant hit. “The loss of Interlochen Presents and the impact on revenue … it will be a steep climb. It will be a challenge for us,” Devey acknowledged.

Yet in the next breath, he guaranteed Interlochen would continue to flourish.

“Absolutely. We’re going to get through this.

[Interlochen] has weathered storms, “ he said.

“We’re focused on our fall re-entry plan. We have two task forces — a COVID-19 team from around the world and a campus health team,” he said. The two teams have been working to develop a plan for reopening in the fall, which Devey said he’s confident will happen.

the ADViCE GOddESS The Afterwife

Q “Jonesin” Crosswords

"Free Is a Very Good Price" --last themeless till the big one. by Matt Jones ACROSS

1 Cocktail “invented” in 2020 that can include vodka, gin, honey, Emergen-C, or whatever you feel like drinking 11 Items in a self-checkout station question 15 Out of uniform 16 Model Nordegren once married to Tiger Woods 17 How long USPS bulk mail takes to get across the country 18 Only 19 Tennessee team, for short 20 Part of some fire extinguisher instructions 21 Sink to the bottom 23 Yellow bloomer with a bovine name 25 Key beside Q 27 Bishop’s hat 28 Wee drink 30 Intimidating, unhelpful advice from a coach 32 “A cartoon by Robert ___” (common “SNL” credit in the ‘90s) 35 Part of BCE 36 Org. in TV’s “The Rookie” 37 Hither’s counterpart 38 Sidekick and Samurai, for two 41 “Chandelier” singer 42 Some hosp. scans 44 Exceed 45 Memento accessory 47 Word before mirror or humor 49 Abbr. for some Spanish teachers 50 Hokkaido city known for its beer (and headquarters of Hokkaido Brewing Company) 51 2001 “Lady Marmalade” contributor 53 Over 57 Actress Davidovich of “Gods and Monsters” 59 Advanced deg.

61 Library penalty 62 Pleasant feeling, to reggae fans 63 Figure not found in an appellate court 66 Kind of pay or day 67 Only state capital without a McDonald’s 68 Part of an Einsteinian equation 69 Extra income source, informally

DOWN 1 Migos rapper who received his high school diploma in 2020 (at age 29) 2 Remove from packaging, a la YouTube videos 3 “I don’t want the issue of Hobbes’s reality settled by ___ manufacturer”: Bill Watterson 4 Being green, in a way 5 Output from Frida Kahlo or Mary Cassatt 6 Org. whose March Madness was cancelled in 2020 7 Namely 8 “It’s settled” 9 Society page notation 10 Bugs 11 Request to one’s heart?

12 Like huge favors 13 Legendary bebop trumpeter 14 Showed disdain for 22 CPR administrator 24 Slapstick projectiles 26 Syllable for the Swedish Chef 29 Body officially demoted on August 24, 2006 31 Subject of TNT’s “Claws” 32 Movement with a lot of representation?

33 Halts 34 How book titles should appear when cited, per APA style 39 Video chat company based in San Jose 40 Kinda miffed 43 Blood-curdling cries 46 Water measures, when mixing condensed soup 48 Wagon wheel track 52 Subside 54 Was guilty 55 “Mary Tyler Moore Show” actress Georgia 56 Manufacturer with a green and yellow logo 58 Dispensers with Braille options 60 Coleridge’s “sacred river” 64 “Vive le ___!”

65 Game, in French (the plural is heard in “Games Without Frontiers”)

: My wonderful stepmom died last year, and my dad was debilitated by grief. I got him to go to a support group, which really seemed to help. He’s been dating a woman he met there, and they’ve gotten serious.

My brother says my dad wants to marry this woman. He’s happy for our dad, but I’m disgusted. It’s just wrong that he’s with another woman so soon. My dad loved my stepmother and was a great husband, but he’s now looking like a fraud because he’s moved on so quickly.

— Distraught Daughter

A

: It’s not like your dad wore dark glasses to the funeral so he could cruise the pretty ladies in attendance without getting caught.

There are many misconceptions about how a person’s “supposed” to feel after their loved one dies, and we tend to go all grief police on someone we think isn’t grieving enough or for long enough.

I suspect these harsh views are a byproduct of one of the possible functions of grief.

Evolutionary psychologist Bo Winegard and his colleagues point out that grief stops us from getting on with our lives after a loved one dies. This is costly, impinging on our survival, or at least keeping us from mating and passing on our genes. But because of this, grief can be a sort of tear-drenched, listless, gloom-shrouded character witness.

Sure, we could tell people we’ve got great character. But that’s just blah, blah, blah, with nothing to back it up. However, because grief is costly — emotionally, physically, and in forcing us to put our lives on pause — it’s seen as a more reliable signal than claims we make about ourselves. The Winegard team believes grief likely functions as a form of social advertising: evidence the grieving person is a “loyal, trustworthy,” committed partner who forms deep attachments.

This might be why so many people eventually went so vicious on comedian Patton Oswalt.

His wife died suddenly, and he was devastated, and he got a flood of sympathy from his fans.

Eighteen months later, he remarried, and the public turned on him — with ugly tweets like: “80,000 died from the flu last year and fat man Patton never mentioned it. Faker than his ‘grief’ for his dead ex wife.”

My journalist friend, Leslie Gray Streeter, 49, gets really angry about these attacks on a surviving spouse: “It’s always shocking how

BY Amy Alkon strangers would rather you be embalmed in their memory than happy.” She writes “you” because she, unfortunately, has experience in this area, chronicled in “Black Widow,” her “sad-funny” memoir about suddenly losing her husband five years into their marriage.

She tweets about the social media-shaming of Oswalt, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and other widowed celebs: “It’s not your business when celebrities you don’t know remarry after being widowed. No it’s not. I’m serious. Stop it. Not your business. ... Leave people alone.”

This is advice we should apply beyond the celebrisphere. Research by psychologist Camille Wortman debunks many common myths about how grief “should” work: for example, the incorrect expectations “that depression is inevitable following loss; that distress is necessary, and failure to experience it is indicative of pathology.” And then there’s the myth you might be clinging to: the notion that real love leads to grief that is endlessly debilitating.

It is — for a very small percentage of people.

But grief researcher George Bonanno suspects we’re prone to believe unending grief is the norm in part because much of what’s written about grief is by grief therapists. They are “apt to see only those bereaved people” who are unable to recover without professional help.

However, Bonanno explains, for most grieving people, resilience — the ability to recover (and sometimes to recover relatively quickly) and get on with life — is the norm. Bonanno urges us not to assume that this means they had “either superficial or conflicted relationships with the persons they lost.”

Bonanno explains that bereaved people who find peace seem to put their loss into some sort of perspective. He gives the example of a woman who married her high school sweetheart and had two children and a full life with him. Her world shattered when her husband died abruptly, but she “found meaning and vigor and even joy in the idea she was going to make it.”

Consider whether the message you want to send to your dad is, “Hey! Your life was supposed to stop when my stepmom’s did,” effectively punishing him for healthy coping. Wortman writes: “The major coping task faced by the bereaved is to reconcile themselves to a situation that cannot be changed and find a way to carry on with their own lives.” As Patton Oswalt explained about why he remarried 18 months after losing his wife: “It just felt like worlds were connecting and everything was okay again.”

Northern Express Weekly • june 01, 2020 • 17

lOGY

JUNE 01 - JUNE 07

BY ROB BREZSNY

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “It’s OK to live a life others don’t

understand,” writes author Jenna Woginrich. That’s a healthy attitude for an eccentric person like her, who taught herself by trial and error how to run a small farm with a meager budget while all alone in the middle of nowhere. But does her advice apply to everyone? I say yes, it does. All of us have quirky behaviors and idiosyncratic ideas and odd feelings that other people find hard to understand, let alone appreciate. I bring this to your attention, Gemini, because the coming weeks will be a time when it’s best for you to emancipate yourself as much as possible from the need to be perfectly understood as you express your raw, pure, unique self.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Buddhist

teacher Jack Kornfield articulates the spiritual medicine I think you should seek in the coming weeks. You especially need it, and by happy coincidence, it’s likely to be available. Kornfield writes: “When we have for so long been judged by everyone we meet, just to look into the eyes of another who does not judge us can be extraordinarily healing.” I urge you to identify the people who can perform this service for you, then ask them point-blank to perform this service, even if it has to happen over FaceTime or via Zoom. To generate the good karma that will ensure this happens in just the right way, offer to perform the same service for others.

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(Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “The changes we dread most may contain our salvation,” writes author Barbara Kingsolver.

Although I mostly agree with her conclusion, I’ll also suggest that we could come up with less melodramatic versions of it. For example, we might say, “The adjustments we’re resisting may actually be healthy.” Or “The uncomfortable transitions we’re avoiding might ultimately lead to a better version of comfort.” Or “The revelations we’re attempting to ignore and deny could eventually be the source of relief and release.” Do any of these work for you right now, Capricorn? I bet at least one does.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Some people

seem to think of sacredness as being pristine and pious—an immaculate and orderly transcendence of earthly concerns. Author and minister Marilyn Sewell has a different perspective. “Who can order the Holy?” she asks.

“It is like a rain forest, dripping, lush, fecund, wild. We enter its abundance at our peril, for here we are called to the wholeness for which we long, but which requires all we are and can hope to be.” I recommend Sewell’s version of holiness to you in the coming weeks, Aquarius. You’re primed to upgrade and deepen your sacred lust for life.

PISCES (Feb 19-March 20): When Europeans

arrived in the New World, the Iroquois Confederacy in what’s now northeastern North American had been practicing participatory democracy for 350 years. The visionary principles of these native people ultimately influenced the formation of the United States and its Constitution. Now would be a good time for you to be inspired by these facts. How? You could draw teachings from the past and use them to create your future. You could study the perspectives of indigenous people and incorporate their wisdom into the way you live your life. You could tune in to and explore the traditions of people you respect and adopt them for your own use.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries poet Paul

Verlaine wrote “Autumn Song” in 1866. It became a well-known French poem, and eventually played a role in a historical turning point. In June 1944, a top-secret British spy organization used the poem as a code to communicate crucial information to the French Resistance, via BBC radio, about the allies’ upcoming D-Day invasion of Normandy. In the spirit of poetry being used to accomplish practical actions, I’m now sending out a burst of code to you, Aries. It’s adapted from another poem by Verlaine: “Delight in good-omened fortune, baptized by the bristling scents of mint, thyme, and clover on the wind of dawn.” Regard this as a signal for you to acquire a necessary resource, strengthen connections with key allies, and intensify your current quest.

18 • june 01, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

TAURUS

(April 20-May 20): Taurus philosopher Bertrand Russell observed, “The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part and the possessive impulses the smallest.” That is always an important principle for everyone to embrace, in my opinion. But it will be an especially essential truth for you in the coming weeks. Your creative powers will thrive, even soar and generate blessings, to the degree that you downplay and outwit your possessive inclinations.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I’m one of the

lucky people who has never been addicted to alcohol or drugs. What’s the source of my great fortune? Two kinds of grace are key: I suffered no abuse and trauma when I was growing up, and my genetic make-up doesn’t predispose me to self-medicate with intoxicants. But I am indeed a bit addicted to other things, like fearful fantasies, sexual feelings, and the urge to win arguments.

So I’m blessed in some ways, cursed in others—just like all of us! In honor of our season of introspection, my fellow Cancerian, I invite you to do what I just did: Count your blessings and curses.

Doing so will bring you just the right kind of healing.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Jacquemus Mini Le

Chiquito” is the name of a tiny purse you can buy for $522. It fits into the palm of your hand, and won’t hold much—maybe a single-use strand of dental floss, a shoe from a Barbie doll, a snippet of a loved one’s hair, an aspirin, maybe a few crumbs from a potato chip. In any case, I don’t recommend it for you. You should be surrounding yourself with symbols of capaciousness and roominess. You need influences that inspire you to be a spacious container. It’s time for you to welcome and receive an abundance of blessings, inquiries, and invitations.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Worry is a way to

pretend that you have knowledge or control over what you don’t,” writes author Rebecca Solnit.

“And it surprises me, even in myself, how much we prefer ugly scenarios to the pure unknown.”

Your assignment in the coming weeks is to thoroughly incorporate Solnit’s wisdom—and then wield it with tender ferocity as you reshape your relationship with the future.

See if you can manage, if only for ten days, to fight off and dissolve the reflex to worry. Here’s a tip: Any time the agitated fantasy of an ugly scenario rises up in your imagination, remind yourself that it’s not objectively true and immediately replace it with a fantasy of a desirable scenario.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Nobel Prize-winning

Libran author William Faulkner was asked by a cousin if he was drunk when he dreamed up the imaginative stories and characters in his novels.

The truth was that on occasion Faulkner did indeed consume alcohol in excessive amounts. However, he rarely indulged while actually writing. His creative ideas mostly came from his fertile imagination, not an unhinged spirit. In the coming weeks, I hope you will be like Faulkner during the inventive phases he enjoyed while sober and disciplined and driven by focused intention. The astrological omens suggest that’s the best recipe for generating original ideas and productive visions.

ScORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “What use is this howling tenderness?” wrote eighth-century Tamil mystic poet Andal. My research on Google reveals that no one has answered her question until now. I decided you would benefit from hearing my response, since you are in a chapter of your life story when howling tenderness could work to your benefit. So here’s my counsel: Howling tenderness is useful because it has the power to shatter mysterious barriers that have been at least partially obstructing you from exploring the frontiers of sacred intimacy.

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In following CDC guidelines, Team Members and Guests are required to wear masks. Guests are encouraged to bring and wear their personal masks. Guests wishing to enter the Casino that do not have a mask may obtain one from Security at the Main Entrance, or the Pure Rewards Club.

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