Northern Express - March 30, 2020

NORTHERN

express northernexpress.com

HOPE. NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • march 30 - April 05, 2020 • Vol. 30 No. 13

A Message from Munson Healthcare

Coronavirus (COVID-19): What You Need to Know Common COVID-19 Symptoms: The majority of people who contract COVID-19 will experience mild to moderate symptoms, 2-14 days following exposure to the new coronavirus. These symptoms include: Fever (100+ degrees)

Shortness of breath

Cough

Fatigue

What To Do: Stay home and avoid others. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, it is critical to avoid others, rest, and get plenty of fluids.

This includes those who have traveled to a high-risk area and may have come in contact with the new coronavirus.

If you have concerns, call your family doctor. You can also contact our Munson Healthcare hotline at 231-935-0951 and press 5 to speak to a nurse. This option is available daily from 7 am - 7 pm.

For more stay-at-home tips that help reduce the spread to loved ones and neighbors, visit munsonhealthcare.org/slowthespread.

When to Seek Emergency Help: For some people, the symptoms may be more severe.

More severe symptoms include: • Difficulty breathing • Persistent pain or pressure in the chest • Confusion • Bluish lips or face

People Most at Risk for Developing More Serious Symptoms: • Older adults • People with pre-existing medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, cancer, or diabetes

If you experience any of these severe symptoms, please seek immediate medical attention or call 911.

You’re Feeling Well But Worried What To Do: Social Distancing: Social distancing involves avoiding large gatherings. If you have to be around people, keep 6 feet between you when possible.

Wash your hands: 1. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold) and apply soap.

2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.

3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.

4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.

5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

If you aren’t able to wash your hands with soap and water, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60-95% alcohol.

Seek soothing activities that can help distract you from worry. Visit munsonhealthcare.org/blog for helpful tips.

Thank you for doing what you can to help slow the spread and keep our facilities accessible for those most impacted.

We are honored to serve you and this amazing community.

2 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

letters

T HIT SEND!

Love what we’re doing here?

Disagree with something you’ve read on these pages? Share your views with a quick letter to the editor by shooting us an email.

OUR SIMPLE RULES: Keep your letter to 300 words or less, send no more than one per month, include your name/address/ phone number, and assume we will edit. That’s it.

Email info@northernexpress.com and hit send!

Pandemic Prep Failure Well, a grave threat has befallen our country, and the president had a chance to refashion his legacy. That moment has come and is likely gone. For weeks, he has downplayed the danger by comparing it to the flu, but the virus currently has no treatment or vaccine. He has denied responsibility for a shortage of tests that are crucial to tracking the virus. Only recently has his administration begin exhorting Americans to avoid restaurants and stay home from school, steps that state and local officials have already been putting in place on their own.

We knew about the virus last December, and our first cases showed up in February. At this time, it would have seemed prudent to assess how prepared we were. Unfortunately, two years ago, this administration had dissolved the White House office set up to prepare for the next disease outbreak, leaving us far less prepared.

It is unreasonable to expect any president to have the necessary expertise to determine the right response to a virus but reasonable that he should defer to the experts in regards about what to do. Seems the safest response to a new virus is to plan for the worst-case scenario. The No. 1 thing the experts agree on was to make sure we have sufficient protective gear for our medical providers.

Second thing is to ensure sufficient tests are available to track the virus. Developing and distributing tests for a new disease is a major logistical and scientific challenge, but it can be pulled off with the help of highly efficient, effective government leadership.

Regrettably, we are still sorely lacking in protective gear and testing kits.

We still have a chance to blunt the curve.

The president can dip into our medical reserves until the private sector catches up

and call up the VA medical system to back up our healthcare system.

Ronald Marshall, Petoskey Lifesaving Lobster Blood Last October, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to a research company in Orono, Maine, for studies it’s doing on lobster blood. The scientists are very encouraged that lobster blood can be used as a potential natural weapon against viruses and cancer. There are a number of ancient species, like some sharks, that never get cancer. I wonder how many organisms there are that might be real lifesavers, that are on their way to extinction?

Ken Walrad, Beulah

Lies, Leadership, and COVID-19 It was all fun and games for three years. We had an obnoxious horse’s ass for president, and the economy was good. What more could anyone ask? Now, however, with an opponent he can’t mock or bully (even though he has tried), Trump’s lack of fitness for office has never been more obvious. Now we all have to pay for his narcissism and his pathological lying.

He claimed to know more about ISIS than the generals and more about climate change than the scientists. Now he knows more about epidemiology than the doctors.

He relishes going on TV every day during this crisis so he can tell more lies about the prevalence of COVID-19 testing, the development of a vaccine, and the potential for an effective treatment. Of course, this is after he referred to the crisis as a hoax. He always covers his old lies with new ones. He now refers to this as a pandemic, yet says it is up to the individual states to solve the crisis in America. And his administration now consists entirely of sycophants. Thankfully, other leaders are stepping in to fill the void of leadership left by the ignorant fool in the White House.

Sean Palmer, Traverse City A TIME FOR HEALING Four pros of earth being closed: 1) Mother can heal.

2) Fewer cars being driven means less pollution in the atmosphere and less fossil fuel consumption!

3) Did you hear about the swans and other waterfowl reappearing in Venice, Italy’s canals? Less human boat traffic equals more time for the other inhabitants of this planet to enjoy these luxurious water spots as well.

4) Many parks and preserves are closed here in the U.S. I can’t wait to see how the natural world reacts to growing freely without being stomped on, and without waste being thoughtlessly dumped behind to stunt the growth of plants or be eaten by innocent wildlife.

While we take the time to process this trying time, let us also bring awareness to the human impact we have had on nature. We’re all in this together — all being inclusive to the animals and plant species of this world. I hope we learn to never again take advantage

of our home. She gives us life! She supplies the trees for our paper products and the fresh meats and vegetables we so covet.

We can’t go back after this.

CONTENTS features

Heather Spaleny, Traverse City Crime and Rescue Map......................................7 A Love Song to Northern Michigan....................10 Thoughtful Statements A thank you to the eloquent people who Southern Saviors............................................12 made thoughtful and persuasive statements Census Critical.........................................................13 against the Gun Sanctuary Resolution Human Trafficking in our Backyard......................14 passed by the Grand Traverse County Commission. Doctors and nurses described gunshot wounds they had treated. Parents talked about their fears for their children’s safety based on the many mass shootings Top Ten...........................................................5 that have occurred around the country Spectator/Stephen Tuttle....................................6 over past years. Many of the anti-resolution Opinion..............................................................9 presenters hunt and own guns but still Weird..............................................................16 respect gun control laws. Others pointed Advice..........................................................16 out the importance of other constitutional Crossword...................................................17 amendments in addition to the Second Freewill Astrology..........................................17 Amendment.

The pro resolution people all had the Modern Rock/Kristi Kates................................18 same message: “We love our guns, and no Classifieds..................................................18 one can control our use of them. We have them for protection.” Protection against whom? Does everyone’s safety come down to who can draw their guns the fastest? (See you at the OK Corral?) Rob Hentschel had already told the Traverse City Record-Eagle that he expected the commission to pass the resolution before he had heard anyone from the community speak. Sonny Wheelock and Bryce Hundley voted against the resolution.

Isn’t it time GT residents have more commissioners who represent the people and not just their own self interests?

columns & stuff

Dawn Chalker, Traverse City Blockhead Despite what George Peter Block says, obviously your paper is very popular here or it wouldn’t still be in places all over northern Michigan. Mr Block sounds like the man he supports — very crass. Maybe he should just not pick up Northern Express if he doesn’t like it!

And hopefully we can get someone in the White House who doesn’t cut down every segment of the population — but especially our veterans, who have fought to keep us all free. Dump Trump 2020!

Tom Webster, Grawn

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

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, Jennifer Hodges, Michael Phillips, Steve Tuttle, Kristi Kates, Meg Weichman, Craig Manning, Todd VanSickle 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.

Northern Express Weekly • march 30, 2020 • 3

this week’s

top ten We’ve decided to replace some of our Top Ten staples as peoples’ habits and the economy are in flux. Hope you enjoy them! —Ed.

This Farmer’s Market is Open Some Antrim County farmers are trying to imagine what a farmer’s market looks like in the age of social distancing.

What they’ve come up with is a pre-order, pre-pay, drive-thru local market that takes place Wednesdays at the parking lot of the senior center in Bellaire.

It’s a project put together by Crosshatch Center for Art and Ecology, Daybreak Dreamfarm, and farmer Joanna Claire.

“We’ve been trying to create a cooperative for almost two years now, but it’s just been like herding cats,” Claire said. “No time like the present to cooperate.”

Photo credit: Janeen Wardie Orders can be placed online on Mondays or Tuesdays for pickup on Wednesday. Considering it’s only March, the young cooperative already offers a robust product list: They’ve got beef, whole chickens, eggs, mushrooms and microgreens.

“This has been evolving faster than we expected,” said Kelly Doyle of Daybreak Dreamfarm.

To place an order, visit: www.daybreakdreamfarm.com/order

2

new york times best-selling author

Terry McMillan: Now coming to your living room — free! The National Writers Series was set to bring Terry McMillan, author of “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” and “Waiting to Exhale,” to Traverse City for a personal chat in front of a live City Opera House audience April 9. But when the lockdown came to Michigan, NWS and McMillan made a quick pivot: Now, NWS will beam McMillan’s interview directly to your home computer. Just like it happens live, a Q&A session will follow the one-hour convo; those with Zoom can type in questions. The convo will also be live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube. (Search “National Writers Series” on each platform.) No matter how you watch, its free — no pre-registration or password required. The event opens at 6:30 pm to give participants time to sign in at https:// bit.ly/TerryMcMillan.

4

Hey, watch this!

Blow the Man Down

Premiering at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, this award-winning film was originally headed for theatrical release, but the good people at Amazon Studios have blessed our social distancing watchlists with an early streaming release. A Coen Brothers-esque crime noir — which is to say that, in addition to a smart murder mystery, there’s also a wicked and sly sense of humor — Blow the Man Down is about two sisters who find themselves in hot water after returning to their small Maine fishing village for their mother’s wake. With bellowing sea shanties, family secrets, bags of missing cash, harpoons, and a murderer’s row of female character actors (Margo Martindale, June Squibb, Annette O’Toole), this dark comedy thriller from a pair of promising new female writer/directors is one to watch. Streaming on Amazon Prime.

5

tastemaker city park grill’s meaty deals There might be a run on meat at your local grocery store, but meat-lovin’ locals are faring just fine at City Park Grill in Petoskey. Not only has the restaurant made its lunch and dinner menus available for takeout/curbside and downtown Petoskey delivery (daily 11:30am–7pm), it’s forging on with daily features, like Fridays’ famous carved-to-order prime rib — slowly roasted then lightly smoked and served with white truffle oil mashed potatoes, garlic-rosemary jus and fresh vegetable du jour — plus a side salad, their awardwinning biscuits, and dessert for $20.95. Last Thursday, they brought back their “Big Steak” — a 16-ounce New York Strip (pictured) served with roasted red skin potatoes, fresh vegetable, biscuits and dessert for $19.95. Making these deals even meatier? Right now, if you buy a $100 gift card at www.wineguysgroup.com/shop, you can use that card at any of the eateries under the Wineguys Restaurant Group umbrella (City Park Grill, Roast & Toast, and Palette Bistro), and receive a $25 bonus gift certificate, free. The gift card can be used for takeout now, and the bonus certificate when the restaurants re-open for dine-in service. Check out the menus and daily feature deals at www.cityparkgrill.com, and www. roastandtoast.com. (Roast and Toast pickup and curbside delivery open 8am–2pm daily.)

4 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

IS IT TIME FOR A 2nd OPINION?

Offering review, advice, and strategy by the hour.

Wealth Planning

Matthew S. Doran, CFP®, Principal, Sage Wealth Planning LLC 810 Business Park Dr Traverse City p: (231) 631-1912 www.sagewealthplans.com

6

Birthday Wishes from TC Firefighters

Traverse City Firefighters announced some changes to make sure they’re ready to respond in a crisis — including offering drive-by birthday greetings for children cooped up at home.

“One thing we can do that might bring happiness to City of Traverse City children is drive-by birthday celebrations,” reads a post on the TCFD Local 646 Facebook page. “Young girls and boys that would feel special to hear happy birthday from their dedicated firefighters can have that wish fulfilled.”

Parents who wish to request this service can send a message to Traverse City Firefighters L646 page. (Families must live within the city limits.)

The page also announced that the department has decided to put off training that requires close contact in order to stay healthy and be available to respond to calls.

The firefighters “are evaluating everything we do and taking prudent measures to limit our chances of exposing ourselves to the virus,” reads the post. “Our daily operations will be changing a bit but our dedication to our citizens will remain unwavering.”

Stuff we love Worry-free Playgrounds Ultraviolet light rays make it difficult for viruses to survive and spread, and natural Vitamin D — i.e., the kind the comes from sun exposure — boosts humans’ immunity like nothing else. But with sunshine still in fairly short supply in our neck of the hemisphere, DG Window Cleaning volunteered to disinfect every playground in Petoskey to make sure they remained as safe as possible for local kiddos. Our hats off (but gloves on, of course) to DG Window Cleaning for helping to keep Northern kids healthy while having fun outside.

Northern Express — online and in your home mailbox!

Unable to grab a copy of Northern Express at your favorite local eatery or coffee shop right now? You don’t need to go without your weekly dose — you can always read the latest stories at NorthernExpress.com. If you prefer to flip through the entire issue, page by page, scroll down our homepage and click on Virtual Express; it’ll take you to our digital issue — advertisements, News of the Weird, the crossword puzzle, and everything else you love included. And if you simply need the feeling of each week’s paper pages beneath your fingers, we’ve got you covered there, too: Have your own printed copy delivered to your door every week for a year — for only the cost of postage. Email us at info@northernexpress.com for details on your very own subscription.

8

Housemade 231.347.0101 CITYPARKGRILL.com Monday – Saturday, 11:30am – 7pm

D O W N TO W N

P E TO S K E Y

Coffee Lunch Dinner TO GO Pick Up & Curbside Delivery

Bottoms up Brys estate’s Healthy & Happy set Some people hoard toilet paper. We stockpile essentials. And Brys Estate on Old Mission Peninsula is giving us all the incentives we need: 10 percent off orders of 12 or more bottles of wine, shipped for only one penny. The single-penny shipping deal is also available on sixbottle orders, which offer a 5 percent discount. And if you order six bottles online (coupon code FILLATOTE) and pick up your order at the winery … you’ll save 20 percent. Of course, if you’re curbing your intake of wine while homebound (though we have to ask: Why now?), you can still take advantage of an outstanding pandemic deal: The B.E. Healthy & Happy set, which includes a heavenly-smelling hand sanitizer from the Secret Garden at Brys Estate, a bottle of the winery’s Cabernet/Merlot Reserve, and a bottle of its Pinot Noir/Riesling for $49 — shipping included. That’s a savings of more than 25 percent. Use coupon code HH20 at https://bit.ly/39hB26W for B.E. Healthy and Happy set; or see Shop Wines at www. brysestate.com.

231.347.7767 ROASTANDTOAST.com Monday - Saturday, 8am – 2pm

Northern Express Weekly • march 30, 2020 • 5

FARM SOLAR EXPERTS

HARVEST THE ENERGY OF THE SUN Looking to save on electricity costs with solar on your Michigan farm? Contact the premier solar provider in Michigan for farms, businesses, and residential solar installation, Harvest Solar.

888-90-SOLAR

WAY BEHIND THE CURVE spectator

by Stephen Tuttle Wars require a coordinated national strategy and a leader who’s providing accurate information, encouragement and empathy. We have no such strategy and no such leader.

The first case of COVID-19 we know of was diagnosed on Nov. 17, 2019, in China. They got around to telling the rest of the world on Dec. 31. It was already too late, especially with a world mostly unprepared to deal with what was coming. In the U.S., we weren’t even willing to acknowledge it was coming.

Our first case was diagnosed on Jan. 21 in Washington state. We had no approved tests available here though there were already plenty elsewhere. A small German company with only 55 employees churned out more than a million accurate test kits in less than a week, but they didn’t meet the protocols established by our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We finally started distributing CDCapproved test kits Feb. 5, though the criteria for receiving a test was unusually restrictive.

We were already way behind the curve.

From the beginning, we were being fed nonstop sugar-coated nonsense by Trump and his allies. Even as it became clear there was a problem, they simply blathered on. Here’s a chronological sampling: “No, we’re not at all.” Trump, Jan. 22, when asked if he was worried about a pandemic.

“Well, we pretty much shut it down.”

Trump, Jan. 31; 8 confirmed cases

downtown suttons bay

“A lot of people think it will go away in April.” Trump, Feb. 10; 11 cases

since 1876

“We have contained this ... pretty close to air tight.” Larry Kudlow, Feb. 25; 51 cases

We’re dreaming of brighter days ahead.

“It’s going to be down to close to zero.”

Trump, Feb. 26; 57 cases

online gift card promo

$50 $10 buy $ 75 g e t $15 f r e e buy $ 100 g e t $20 f r e e buy

get

free

buy online at bahles.net We’re thinking about you all.

Stay safe and healthy, we will see you soon.

6 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

“It will disappear. Like a miracle, it will disappear.” Trump, Feb. 27; 59 cases “We’re going to have vaccines, I think relatively soon.” Trump, March 2, 92 cases “Go to a rally. There’s really no reason you shouldn’t go.” Dr. Ben Carson, March 8, 518 cases “It’s really working out.” Trump, March 10; 959 cases “No, I don’t take responsibility at all.”

Trump, March 12; 2,057 cases “The markets are going to be just fine.”

Trump, March 12; 2,057 cases “It’s something we have tremendous control over.” Trump, March 15; 3,499 cases “I’d rate it a 10.” Trump, when asked to rate the government’s response, March 16; 4,661 cases “This is a pandemic. I’ve felt it was a pan-

demic long before it was called a pandemic.” Trump, March 17; 6,421 cases “Nobody in their wildest dreams would have ever thought we’d need tens of thousands of ventilators,” Trump, March 19; 14,250 cases (Full credit to www.RuleofLawRepublicans. com for their video, from which the above quotes were pulled.)

Of all the misinformation and fabrication the president has spouted since this started, that last bit might be the saddest because it is wildly untrue. Plenty of people in his own administration saw this coming.

Our government conducted pandemic exercises in both 2015 and 2017, only to find our response capabilities severely lacking.

In the summer of 2019, the CDC organized a drill called the Crimson Contagion Exercise, involving several government agencies and 15 states. The imaginary model used was an influenza virus starting in China and spreading into a pandemic. It wasn’t precisely COVID-19, but it was freakishly similar. They concluded there was confusion among federal agencies, lack of a cohesive plan, and, as the mock influenza spread, they determined our real healthcare system would be overwhelmed with shortages of protective gear and equipment like ventilators.

Does any of that sound familiar?

That’s three separate drills with the same results. Then came warnings, in January and early February, from the American intelligence community that a pandemic was coming. Either nobody wanted to hear bad news, or they just didn’t believe it. Either way, we didn’t react.

Even now there doesn’t seem to be a coherent national strategy. The president’s rosy declarations often contrast sharply with those of the actual experts. Reports of turf-protecting and in-fighting on the president’s response team haven’t helped boost our confidence.

The hard work has mostly been left to governors, local governments, and healthcare workers unprotected and under siege. Trump, true to form, was unwilling to accept any responsibility. With governors quite literally begging for supplies and help from the Feds, he could only conjure up an insult, saying governors “ ... shouldn’t be blaming the federal government for their own shortcomings.”

Wartime presidents don’t typically denigrate field commanders doing the dirty work.

Now, the same administration that ignored the results of multiple pandemic exercises, ignored its own intelligence community, and misled and misinformed us for weeks wants to ignore the infectious disease experts and ease social distancing directives and business closures.

As this is going to print on March 26, there are more than 70,000 cases. There will be many more by the time you read it.

Crime & Rescue POLICE RESPOND TO STATE ORDER Police departments across the region responded to a state order requiring people to stay at home except for necessary work or errands by asking the public to obey the order but noting police would not aggressively enforce it.

“Are sheriff’s deputies going to be stopping people and asking what they are doing? No, only situation I can see police involvement would be if it is obvious that someone is violating the order,” Crawford County Sheriff Shawn Kraycs wrote on Facebook. “Are there going to be check points?

No. … The order is for your own safety and the safety of your family.”

In a press release, Emmet County Sheriff Pete Wallin echoed those sentiments.

“People should only go out for essentials under limited circumstances and adhere to social distancing,” he wrote.

Nonetheless, he said, the roads are open, and deputies would not stop people to enforce the order.

Wallin said that deputies would likewise not make arrests in cases of non-essential businesses that remain open; however, he said they would investigate and forward violations to state officials, like the health department or the Liquor Control Commission.

“Please be patient, stay safe, and do the right thing during this difficult time,” he said.

PEDESTRIAN KILLED ON FRONT STREET A 55-year-old Kingsley man apparently struck a pedestrian without knowing and drove two blocks down Front Street before being waved at to pull over by another driver.

The pedestrian who was struck and killed just before 10am March 20 was identified as 54-yearold Carol Denise Holtrey of Traverse City.

The driver had exited and headed east from the Taco Bell on E. Front Street when he was alerted by another driver to pull over. Both vehicles pulled into the Burger King parking lot two blocks away, Chief Jeffrey O’Brien said.

Investigators determined that the driver was not aware of the impact with the pedestrian, who ended up pinned underneath the vehicle.

MAN ARRESTED AFTER FAILING TO STOP Leelanau County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a driver after he failed to pull over in Elmwood Township.

A deputy patrolling M-22 near East Carter Road on at 11:25pm March 19 spotted a pickup travelling 54mph in a 40-mph zone and initiated a traffic stop.

The driver of the pickup kept on going, headed toward Traverse City.

At the intersection of M-22 and M-72, the driver blew through a red light and continued on Grandview Parkway toward downtown, turning south on Division Street.

At Fitzhugh Drive, the vehicle was cut off by a Grand Traverse County deputy and made to stop between two patrol vehicles. Deputies said the driver, a 43-year-old Suttons Bay man, greeted them with profane language as they arrested him.

The man faces charges of fleeing from police and third-offense drunk driving.

by patrick sullivan psullivan@northernexpress.com

VANDALISM CLOSES RESTROOMS The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore announced the park’s restrooms had to be closed after a string of vandalism and toilet paper theft.

Thieves unraveled toilet paper and destroyed hand-sanitizing stations in order to take the Purell containers inside them, Superintendent Scott Tucker said.

The visitor’s center and the campgrounds are also closed, but otherwise, the park’s trails and beaches remain open and park officials are asking visitors to not litter and to practice social distancing.

BIKE STOLEN AND RECOVERED A bicycle worth over $5,000 taken in a smash-and-grab from a Traverse City bike shop was recovered by a paddleboarder on Boardman Lake.

The Trek Farley 9.8 XL was taken from Brick Wheels on the evening of March 22 while the business was closed. Someone had thrown a rock through a window and made off with the fat tire bike, which was priced at $5,149.

Eric Sika, the paddleboarder who found the bike underwater March 24, wrote on Facebook: “I was out paddleboarding tonight and came across a pretty sweet fat tire bike in 3ft of water. Although I’m looking for a new mountain bike, this one might be a bit out of my price range!”

emmet cheboygan charlevoix

antrim

otsego

Leelanau

benzie

manistee

grand traverse

wexford

kalkaska

missaukee

crawfor D

roscommon

Northern Express Weekly • march 30, 2020 • 7

EPIC | UnitedHealthcare WEHearing STAND

BESIDE YOU & FOR YOU

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

negative effects of untreated HEARING LOSs

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

MEDICARE HEALTH INSURANCE

Aetna | Humana | Amerigroup CADILLAC, GAYLORD, GRAYLING, MT PLEASANT, PETOSKEY, TRAVERSE CITY, BELLAIRE, SUTTONS BAY Cigna | UnitedHeathcare Name/Nombre

JOHN L SMITH

BCBS Anthem | AARP/UHC CALL TODAY: 989-607-4576 & 231-225-0376 PROVIDERS: Hearing Care Solutions EPIC | UnitedHealthcare Hearing

Coverage starts/Cobetura empieza

03-01-2020 03-01-2020

BeltoneSkoricHearing.com

negative effects of untreated HEARING LOSs

WE3xSTAND BESIDE YOU5x&increased FOR YOU increased 32% increased In an effort to accommodate and assist those needing to hear during risk of hospitalization risk of falling risk of dementia this period, effective immediately, Beltone is providing 1 on 1 free

in home, in office or curbside hearing testing as well as remote telecare hearing services. Why? Because hearing and understanding what’s being said and going on around us is more important now than ever before. Please see below for current incentives we are offering to those in need of hearing care services.

3x increased risk of falling

ENROLLED WITH A MEDICARE ADVANTAGE OR SUPPLEMENT PLAN?

depression & social isolation

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

BELTONE HONORS ALL PLANS AND PROVIDERS

MEDICARE HEALTH INSURANCE Name/Nombre

JOHN L SMITH Medicare Number/Número de Medicare

123-45-6789-A Entitled to/Con derecho a

Coverage starts/Cobetura empieza

HOSPITAL (PART A) 03-01-2020 MEDICAL (PART B) 03-01-2020

BELOW ARE JUST A FEW:

Aetna | Humana | Amerigroup Cigna | UnitedHeathcare BCBS Anthem | AARP/UHC PROVIDERS: Hearing Care Solutions EPIC | UnitedHealthcare Hearing

ASnegative SMALL AS A DIMEHEARING LOSs effects of untreated

AS SMALL AS A DIME

BUY ONE GET ONE

BUY ONE BUY ONE GET ONE FREE

FREE

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

DESIGN ELEMENTS BY FLATICON.COM

3x increased risk of falling

HEARING AID GET ONE 1/2 OFF *Towards the purchase of select model hearing systems, based on two instruments.

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

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

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

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

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

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

8 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly AS SMALL AS A DIME

DESIGN ELEMENTS BY FLATICON.COM

Entitled to/Con derecho a

HOSPITAL (PART A) MEDICAL (PART B)

DESIGN ELEMENTS BY FLATICON.COM

Medicare Number/Número de Medicare

123-45-6789-A

SITTING ON THE DOCK OF DISMAY opinion

bY Isiah Smith, Jr. If the events of the last several weeks have taught us anything, it is how fragile we are. Not only our physical being but also everything in our world, which exists in a state of uncertainty. Everything can change in a second — a nanosecond, really.

Perhaps emboldened by the last presidential election, he argues again that race, gender, and social class are not social constructs but immutably encoded in DNA. Twenty-six years later, he reached the same tiresome conclusion: Blacks are genetically inferior to whites.

The tumult that followed the spread of the Coronavirus should be a warning: We puny humans control very little, and we are now learning that our confidence in control is illusory. Sadly, it appears that we are missing the most profound lessons and priceless opportunities wrapped in the guise of apocalyptic danger. This universal, international health crisis is a stark reminder that we are all more alike than we are different.

The argument that gender is determined by biology is a diversion. No reasonable person would argue otherwise. One suspects that Murray added the gender discussion to disguise his non-scientific discussions of race.

The coronavirus has rapidly spread to every corner of the U.S. economy, upending the jobs of Seattle and New York taxi drivers alike, Texas oil workers, Wall Street traders, service industry workers, and nearly all other sectors in between. The virus has swept through Asia and Europe, Africa, and North and South America.

The virus does not discriminate. It doesn’t care what color you are, what language you speak, what or where you worship, whether you attended Harvard, Yale, or (if you’re lucky) The University of Miami. Whether you finished at the top of your class or dead last, you are as likely to be affected by the virus as anyone else. And get this: Labeling it “The China Virus” doesn’t make it any more or less deadly.

It is a human virus, which should have given pause to those who see people only as representatives of a group instead of as individuals with the same fragilities that make all of us uniquely human. We share the same origins and destiny.

Charles Murray, social “scientist” and celebrated white supremacist, long ago decided that he had discovered one great immutable truth. He had, he thought, found the Holy Grail; real scientists would just have to catch up to his genius. Murray’s great truth? In 1994, he and psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein published the book “The Bell Curve,” in which they argued that African Americans, on average, score lower than whites on IQ tests, which “proved” they are genetically inferior. Blacks, they posited, would therefore always be disadvantaged, and the government can’t do anything about it, so stop trying.

One can imagine Murray’s dismay upon awakening on Nov. 4, 2008, and learning that an African American had been elected president. Or his horror and dismay upon seeing Neil deGrasse Tyson on PBS, in all his brown-skin glory, holding forth on astrophysics and other “hard” subjects. These two events alone should have persuaded him to reconsider his racist theory.

But he did not. Instead, this year, he published another book: “Human Diversity.”

Reputable scientists have long held that race is a social construct, and that there is no genetic basis for race; that it is a social and legal definition — one rude, crude, and wrong. What Murray calls “race” is culture, or ethnicity.

Unlike Murray, reputable scientists agree that race is a social construct. Popular classifications of race are based chiefly on skin color, along with other relevant features including height, eyes, and hair.

These physical differences may appear, superficially, to be very dramatic; they are not. Only a minute portion of the genome determines them; we as a species are estimated to share 99.9 percent of our DNA with each other. The few differences that do exist reflect differences in environments and external factors, not core biology.

Murray’s intent could not be clearer. But flip to the back of his latest book, and you will find Arthur Jensen as a source. Jensen, an educational psychologist, ignited an international firestorm with a 1969 article suggesting that the gap in intelligence-test scores between black and white students might be rooted in genetic differences between the “races.”

According to most reliable researchers, the “cultural specificity” of intelligence makes IQ tests biased toward the environments in which they were developed — namely white, Western society. This makes them potentially problematic in culturally diverse settings.

WE'LL SEE YOU SOON

TRAVERSE CITY

231-929-3200 • 4952 Skyview Ct.

CHARLEVOIX

231-237-0955 • 106 E. Garfield Ave.

donations memberships gift cards

www.schulzortho.com

INTERLOCHEN ALTERNATIVE HEALTH OPEN DURING THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES CURBSIDE DELIVERY ONLY NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED * Medical only (for now) * The ONLY locally owned and family operated dispensary in Grand Traverse region.

It must be added that the culturally specific information that IQ tests measure is the very same information that the white Western world used every means available to prevent African Americans from obtaining or even being exposed to. And these efforts continued for more than 300 years.

One great truth: Some individuals score higher (and lower) on IQ tests than others.

Some of these individuals are black; some of them are white.

Now back to the virus. Our skin colors won’t save us, our cultures won’t save us, nor will our languages. No wall known to man can stop its spread. We’re all in this together — our human fragilities making us equal before the conflagration that is no respecter of differences.

Isiah Smith, Jr. is a retired government attorney.

Jordan, Barb and Steve

2074 M-137 INTERLOCHEN 231-276-3311

Mon-Sat 10am-6pm • Sun 12pm-6pm

FREE JOINT FRIDAY IS BACK!

Northern Express Weekly • march 30, 2020 • 9

Stephen Lewis today.

A Love Song to Northern Michigan

By Patrick Sullivan Old Mission Peninsula native Carolyn Lewis spent the final years of her life attempting to put together a collection of her short stories and get them published.

Over a career that spanned decades, Lewis published short stories in academic and literary journals across the United States.

Her stories won national awards, and she attracted attention from New York publishers.

Lewis, who grew up on a farm on Traverse City’s Old Mission Peninsula and was the first female cherry-shaker driver on the peninsula, left Michigan around age 20 and lived mostly in New York. She returned to the peninsula, where most of her stories are set, almost 20 years ago with her Brooklyn-bred husband, Stephen Lewis.

When dementia interfered with Carolyn Lewis’ efforts to assemble her myriad stories and get her book published, Stephen, an accomplished writer himself, took on the mission. Carolyn Lewis died before her husband was able to complete his quest, but ultimately, he did succeed; just months after his wife’s death, “The Wolfkeeper: Stories by Carolyn J. Lewis,” was published through Mission Point Press and is now on the shelves of local bookshops and online.

The book presents a dream-like, almost mythological northern Michigan one filled with Native American spiritualism and stories told in the voices of the dispossessed, mostly women and children.

Northern Express sat down with Stephen Lewis to talk about his dedication to ensuring his late wife’s life work would be remembered.

Northern Express: Tell me about how you collected this material and put the book together.

Did it happen after your wife died, or had you started to work on it while she was still alive?

Stephen Lewis: She was working on it for a long time. Getting it published. She had compelling ambition to get this book published, going back years. I can’t tell you how many. Six, seven, eight years. Not the marketing but putting it together.

Express: So, she had been working for years to get this published and then she was interrupted.

She suffered from dementia, right?

Lewis: Yeah. For the last couple — two, three years of her life. She had breast cancer first, a couple years before the dementia set in.

My view is that the chemo for the breast cancer very much accelerated the onset of the dementia. There’s no question in my mind because of the before and after of how she was while she was undergoing treatment for the breast cancer. The [mental] decline after chemo was just dramatic.

Express: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. How old was she when she died?

Lewis: Sixty-six.

Express: That’s young.

Lewis: Yeah, we used to joke that, I’m 10 years older, so she’d be pushing me around in a wheelchair, but it didn’t work out that way. In terms of the book, she had been working on various ways of putting together her stories

10 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

for a period of maybe seven, eight, nine years.

The sad thing is, she never quite got there. We would have, I think, made it to publication, but right toward the end of her life, there was a kind of unfortunate and, I think, misguided event that happened.

She was well into her dementia when I took over the job of trying to get the thing published, and so I sent it off to Wayne State Press. She had had some correspondence with them years back, and they kind of knew her work.

So I submitted the work to Wayne State, and the editor was interested. And I told her that I was doing it on behalf of Carol, who could no longer do this for herself. And I waited and waited and waited to get a response. And literally, the day after she died, I got a notice — a message from the editor saying, “We just decided against it, not because it’s not worth it for publication, but because we’d like to be able to work with the writer.”

Express: Wow. That must have been a crushing message to receive.

Lewis: [Laughs] I’m thinking, you know, you took the book knowing that she was not really going to be able to do much.

I’m also thinking, how could you miss the golden marketing you’ve got here — of the posthumous publication of a collection of award-winning short stories by a bereaved husband? You don’t need her. [Laughs] Express: Did Carolyn know that you were putting this book together? While she was alive, did she know that you had taken over the project?

Lewis: No. She knew that I was helping her.

I had been helping her all the way through the process, even when she was still coherent.

But by the time I got to really put my hands on this, she was no longer fully able to understand. I’m not sure that she was cognizant at all. She died a year ago, March.

I started trying to market this the following summer and agreed with Mission Point Press by the fall to put the book out. And she would have been pissed. [Laughs]

Stephen and Carolyn Lewis in happier, healthier times.

WE’RE OPEN! CARRY-OUT & DELIVERY ONLY NOON–9PM, DAILY Express: Why would she have been pissed?

Lewis: Because as much as she wanted it done, she wanted to do it herself. She was an extraordinarily independent person.

Express: So, let’s go back a little way, because I want to understand how you and Carolyn ended up living here, on the Old Mission Peninsula, where her stories all seem to be set. I know she’s from here, and you’re from Brooklyn, and you met out there and lived out there for a long time. When did you move to northern Michigan?

Lewis: We moved here January 2002. I retired from teaching at a two-year college in New York. Yeah, she’s from here; I’m from Brooklyn, a thousand miles away. Culturally, two different planets. She grew up on a farm, hundreds of acres of cherry trees; I grew up on the second floor of a two-family house. She grew up as a Methodist, became a Unitarian, sort of drifted into Native American spirituality. I am an assimilating Jew, totally secular.

Lewis explained that when Carolyn moved to the East Coast to pursue a college education in her late 20s, she ended up at the school on Long Island where he taught and, by chance, in 1981 — just as he was getting out of a 17-year marriage, and she was ending a seven-year relationship — they met and started seeing each other. At the time, Carolyn was focused on writing poetry. Later, in the 1990s, her interest turned to short stories.

Express: And she became successful at writing short stories, didn’t she? It’s a notoriously nonlucrative undertaking. How do you go about measuring success?

Lewis: The short answer is that she won prizes. That is not an easy thing to do. These were national prizes. She got published fairly regularly — also not an easy thing to do. So, she clearly had a distinctive fictional voice.

The best example I can give you as to the level of her writing is one of her stories, which is in the book — the one called “Dancing Feather Light.” That one came out in the South Dakota Review. A New York agent — this was in the 1990s — he read those journals looking for talent. He got in touch with her and said, “I read your story. Write me a novel, and I’ll sell it for you.” I don’t know if you can begin to understand the magnitude of that.

Express: So did she write a novel?

Lewis: Couldn’t quite get it together. Her skill was on the smaller canvas, the short story. She tried and tried and tried. I’ve got at home tons of starts and attempts at writing that novel,

which she never quite pulled off. But to get a major agent …

Express: That is pretty incredible.

Lewis: Absolutely incredible.

Express: Throughout this collection, the stories take place in a recognizable location — the Old Mission Peninsula or, at least, some kind of generic northern Michigan. She spent most of her adult life away from this place, but this is what she wrote about.

Lewis: That is exactly true. She left this area at 20ish, went to Minnesota for a while, and from there to New York. She always wanted to come back here. She left it, but she never wrote about anything but this place. Where you grow up leaves an impression in your head.

APPETIZER

+ PIZZA

$15!

ADD A GROWLER FOR $5

FEED THE WHOLE TEAM!

25% OFF

WHEN YOU ORDER FOR 10 OR MORE PEOPLE!

$10 GROWLERS

WITHOUT A PURCHASE OF FOOD

400 W FRONT ST • TRAVERSE CITY, MI 49684 NORTHPEAK.NET • 231.941.7325

Express: Why should people read these stories?

Lewis: Beside the fact that they’re good?

[Laughs] OK, I’m going to expand upon that a little bit, as far as how good they are. Now I am putting on my literary critic and writing cap. One story, “The Wolfkeeper,” which is one of the last that she wrote, she pulls off an incredible technical feat. There are three points of view in that story. There’s the point of view of the old dying priest, there’s the point of view of the young Native American girl who comes by, and most startlingly, there’s the point of view of the wolf. And she presents each of those with credibility and authenticity and no strain and no stretch. That is really difficult to pull off. Especially getting into the head in a convincing way of the wolf.

Why else? It’s really a kind of love song to this area. The ice. The waters. The lake.

The Native American influence. And very much the emphasis on underrepresented, undervalued populations — women, girls, Native Americans. They are the main legs through which these stories are told. She wanted to use her stories to give voice to a sense of injustice, and that’s consistent all the way through. Almost all of the narrators are the voices of women or young children.

Express: Putting together “The Wolfkeeper,” getting the book published, was an act of love, but I can tell it was also important for you to make sure these stories somehow survive.

Lewis: I’m not talking as her husband, as much as I dearly love this woman. I’m talking about one writer who is blown away by the talent of another writer, how good this material is, and how worthy it is of being made accessible. I mean, the book just had to come out.

Northern Express Weekly • march 30, 2020 • 11

Human Trafficking in our Backyard Where it’s happening, why, and how

By Todd VanSickle Amy Rouleau is the director of Restoration Place, a non-profit in Genesee County that educates the public about human trafficking.

Since 2012, Rouleau has often found herself on the frontlines rescuing human trafficking victims. It is an emotional experience filled with many challenges, she said.

She recalls working with a victim who escaped from a large sex ring in the southern United States. The victim had no identification and had been to three different agencies in Michigan seeking help. Rouleau started the rescue process and was able to find a place for the victim to live.

By the second week of living at a safe house, the victim still did not have any identification, despite working with the appropriate agencies.

She called Rouleau and said she was unsure what to do and was worried that when her time was up at the safe house she would be homeless.

“By the time she steps into that safe house, she has 30 days to figure things out,” Rouleau said.

So, she scrambled and tried to get things in place for the victim, but it was too late.

“Four days later I got a text that said, ‘This is too hard — I’m out,’” Rouleau said.

The victim disappeared, and Rouleau never heard from her again.

“I have no doubt she went back to what she knew,” Rouleau said, who estimates that it takes a victim about seven to eight times to leave a trafficker for good. “Sometimes it is easier to go back to the hell, than to go through the rescue process. The barriers are unreal when it comes to helping a victim. It is sad, but you have to let it go. … I see a therapist a lot.”

MYTH v. REALITY Human trafficking is on the rise and finding

its way into smaller communities, including some in northern Michigan. Although, there is more awareness and education about the crime, it still goes unnoticed in many neighborhoods.

“Anywhere that you have the internet, you have human trafficking,” Rouleau said.

“We need to stop looking at this as someone snatched off the street corner and forced into a sex ring, because generally that is not how it is happening. It is happening through families and through friends.”

In 2018, 10,949 cases human trafficking were reported in the United States to the national hotline: 1 (888) 373-7888, according to the Polaris Project. In Michigan, 383 cases were reported, making it the sixth leading state, behind Ohio, New York, Florida, Texas, and California with the most cases reported: 1,656.

However, officials believe the numbers are far greater than those reported, with some estimates between 100,000 to 300,000 children being trafficked in the US at any given time.

“We don’t have pimps saying, ‘I have six girls.’ They don’t disclose,” Rouleau said. “It is really hard to put a number on northern Michigan, or even Michigan as a whole.”

About 80 percent of trafficking victims have been or are in foster care, according to Rouleau. And nearly all of them have experienced sexual abuse, something Rouleau can relate to; she spent time in a foster home after being sexually abused by her father as a young girl. She writes extensively about her experience on her LinkedIn page and talks about how she was at risk for trafficking. She managed to avoid it and has dedicated her work to helping survivors.

In the U.S., sex trafficking is the leading type of trafficking, with more than 8,000 cases reported in 2018. Labor trafficking comes in second, with 1,249 cases, according to the

12 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

Polaris Project.

Although, abductions do happen, Rouleau said almost all victims personally know their trafficker and are subjected to psychological abuse.

“Most of it happens through family relationships,” she said. “Growing up in an ongoing abuse situation, someone grooms them from the beginning to just fall into human trafficking. They believe the lies the trafficker will tell them and they are used to the manipulation.”

Prostitution can occur without it being human trafficking, but if there is an element of “I can’t get out,” then it’s human trafficking, Rouleau said.

“There is a difference between prostitution and human trafficking,” she said. “If people are being forced to work for their basic survival, that is human trafficking. There is definitely a line, but it gets muddied.”

Michigan still prosecutes children under 18 for prostitution, while federal law protects kids under 18 who are victims. Rouleau would like to see changes in the state law to mirror the federal legislation.

“Victims shouldn’t have to testify against their pimp or prove that they are a victim,” Rouleau said.

Substance abuse is also a big factor in human trafficking. Although victims usually have an addiction problem, the trafficker will take advantage of the situation and keep their victim dependent on drugs. It is federally recognized as a coercion technique and can be used in court.

“It is not human trafficking without the element of trade,” Rouleau said. “There has to be someone in the control seat, and there has to be someone dependent on that person in control.”

Although Michigan was one of the first

states to mandate human trafficking awareness training for health care professionals, Rouleau would like to see more training for other professionals like teachers and police officers.

“We need to have mandated training across the board,” she said. “It needs to become like an OSHA requirement.”

TRAINING Dr. Bill Rawlins has worked at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City since 2002. He is a family medicine physician and the family residency director. He describes his patients as “diverse, from a social economic standpoint.”

On average, his office will see about 75 patients day. A lot of them are uninsured or on Medicaid.

“Unfortunately, it is a high-risk population for trafficking,” Dr. Rawlins said. “This is has really come to the light and forefront in the last couple of years. Human trafficking, especially in our area, has been under-recognized and underreported, but it is certainly happening here.”

His office hasn’t had any specific cases of human trafficking, but he and his staff are learning what to look for and how to respond to any suspicious activity.

The doctor looks for several signs, such as a younger patient accompanied by someone of authority, like a pimp, who is answering for the patient. Lack of eye contact and inconsistent and unusual stories are also red flags.

“It is a lot of subtle things,” Dr. Rawlins said, who has to find a way to separate the victim from the trafficker if he suspects any thing unusual.

The State of Michigan requires physicians, like Dr. Rawlins, and various healthcare professionals to complete one hour of continuing education on human trafficking.

“My understanding is that, it is a one-time

Image right: At the end of February, the International Affairs Forum of NMC hosted Eirliani Abdul Rahman (right), the executive director of YAKIN (Youth and Adult Survivors in Need), to discuss human trafficking in the 21st century and how communities can protect children and help young and adult trafficking victims of all ages. Multiple local groups, including the CAC, Zonta Club, and Human Compassion participated in the event. Leila Hilal, IAF director, tells Northern Express that community engagement was so overwhelming, there’s potential for follow-up activities. Learn more: (231) 995-1844, www.tciaf.com

education, so if I don’t do that it could affect my ability to be relicensed,” Dr. Rawlins said.

“The one hour is a start, but it is not enough.”

In 2002, human trafficking wasn’t on many people’s radar, Dr. Rawlins said “You would have been shocked and blown out of the water if someone was being trafficked,” Dr. Rawlins said. “You definitely knew it was happening in third world countries or inner cities, but it just didn’t feel like it was something in our community. So, I think over time with awareness we have come to realize that is not the case.”

Michigan State Police Community Service Trooper David Prichard conducts human trafficking training seminars to bring awareness to a wide variety of professionals who may encounter a trafficking victim while on the job. He recently led a training session in Wexford County for Child Protective Services. He explains to attendees what human trafficking is; what are the signs; what is the difference between labor trafficking and sex trafficking.

“We give people the tools to recognize it,” Prichard said.

The MSP trooper has not dealt with any human trafficking cases personally, but acknowledged that it exists in the region.

“I don’t think there is a lot going on in northern Michigan necessarily,” Prichard said in December when he first spoke to Northern Express. “But that doesn’t mean it is not happening. It is one of those try-to-bring-it-outof-the-shadows type of thing. People have that vision that if someone is trafficked that they are locked in the basement 24/7, and they just shove food down there. That is not the case, people are going to work, and they come home and hand over their money to their pimp or trafficker.

About a month later, on Jan. 10, in Crawford County, two Roscommon men were arrested after a woman was caught stealing a car and claimed the two men had been holding her captive and forcing her to clean and perform

prostitution acts.

The Houghton Lake Michigan State Police Post did not respond to Northern Express’ inquiries about the case; when contacted, Trooper Prichard said he was also awaiting details about the incident.

“I want to get a better scoop on what happened over there for my training purposes,” Prichard said, who is stationed in Cadillac.

“I think it will be part of my presentations going forward. People have that mindset that these things don’t happen up here. Things that happen in bigger cities always find its ways into rural America.”

FIGHTING BACK Aside from educational and awareness training sessions, the MSP combats human trafficking in several other ways.

One technique is to reduce the demand.

Early last year, the MSP conducted a prostitution sting in Traverse City. More than two dozen men answered a fictitious online ad and 14 were charged in the operation.

“We are trying to eliminate the need and demand by arresting 20 to 30 guys who are looking for sex,” Prichard said.

The MSP has also distributed informational flyers and put the phone number of the national help hotline on the packaging of bars of soap and beauty products in local hotels.

“A lot of people don’t know what to do,” Prichard said. “If they get a bar of soap with the number on it they can stick that in their pocket.”

The top venue for sex trafficking is illicit massage and spa businesses. Residence-based commercial sex and motels round out the top three, according to the Polaris Project.

During the month of January, the MSP performed inspections on semi-trucks at weigh stations as part of an awareness campaign for human trafficking.

One of the challenges with addressing human trafficking is a lack of funds for housing

Graphics courtesy of Polaris Project

and resources.

“We have the resources and funds dedicated for the criminal justice system, because that is where these kids are ending up,” Rouleau said.

“We definitely have some systemic issues.”

To run a 12-person home that is licensed to take in kids who have been trafficked costs about $1 million per year, according to Rouleau.

Currently, there are only two such facilities in Michigan — Grand Rapids and Detroit.

“You need a one-to-one ratio when it comes to staffing the facility,” Rouleau said. “So the costs are going to go through the roof.”

Rouleau had been fundraising to build a home for trafficking victims for eight years on a rural 11 acres near Swartz Creek.

Her organization doesn’t receive any state funding. There is no money available, other than fundraising and donations, to build a brick and mortar facility. Once the building is erected there are funds available to operate it. However, things have not been moving as fast as the donors wished, so the project is dissolving.

“In an effort to preserve what we have been doing we are going to send our assets to someone who has already been doing what we wanted to,” Rouleau said, who will continue with the education side of things. “We haven’t decided just who yet, but we will know in the next couple of months.”

Having a safe place to live is an important part of the rescue process. She said the problem is that many at risk kids are in safe houses in the inner city.

“If they can walk out the door and there

Bars of soap and beauty products in local hotels are labeled with the national help hotline for human trafficking victims. (Photo courtesy Michigan State Police.)

is a pimp, there is no healing going on there,” Rouleau said. “You can’t really call it a safe house.”

In northern Michigan, there is a large number of homeless kids, according to Trooper Prichard.

“A lot of people don’t know that,” he said.

“That is a high-risk population up here. They are in a different environment every day.”

Rouleau is skeptical that the state will take a more active role in fighting human trafficking.

She said a couple of years ago there was a big push by the state to eradicate it, but since then things have simmered down and people have become more blasé even though the public has become more aware and informed about human trafficking.

If there is a large bust, Rouleau feels the state is not equipped to deal with the large number of victims. If the victims have travelled over state lines, it becomes a federal case.

“It goes directly to the FBI and the federal government is equipped to handle bigger cases,” Rouleau said.

Prichard is more optimistic and believes the MSP and its partners will be prepared to deal with the situation.

“We have conduits in place if we come across that,” the trooper said.

Both agree that the human trafficking is present in all communities and is not an isolated issue.

“This is an everybody problem,” Rouleau said. “It is not a rural problem. It is not a city problem. It is a human problem.”

Northern Express Weekly • march 30, 2020 • 13

Southern Saviors Why planting southern Michigan trees might be our best chance to preserve northern Michigan’s forests.

By Craig Manning For years, the Leelanau and Benzie Conservation Districts have been selling bare root seedlings and encouraging locals to plant trees on their properties. This spring, those local organizations are trying something new: a “citizen science” initiative called the Assisted Tree Range Expansion Project, or ATREP. The project, spearheaded by a former conversation district intern, will encourage locals to plant southern Michigan trees in the northern Michigan habitat. If all goes well, it could go a long way toward shielding northern Michigan forests and wildlife from some of the more detrimental effects of climate change.

BRANCHING OUT According to Kama Ross, district forester for the Leelanau, Grand Traverse, and Benzie Conservation Districts, climate change has kicked off a domino effect that is already wreaking havoc on northern Michigan forests.

The U.S. Forest Service says that changing climate conditions can affect trees by “making them more susceptible to diseases” and by “influencing the spread of infectious diseases and their carriers.” In northern Michigan, diseases such as beech bark disease and oak wilt disease, as well as pests like emerald ash borer, have wiped out huge numbers of beech trees, oak trees, ash trees, and elm trees — to name a few species.

These losses are having impacts that reach far beyond the forests themselves. For instance, oak trees and beech trees, by providing acorns and beech nuts, are key sources of food for squirrels, birds, deer, and other wildlife. Losing these trees, Ross says, is a “making a huge dent in the amount of food that is available for our native wildlife.” Impairment of healthy forestation also risks compromising the region’s ability to handle heavy rainfall, which can lead to runoff and erosion problems elsewhere.

“These losses just change the water systems of our forests, the way the forests sink and hold water and moisture for us,” Ross explained. “We want to make sure that our forests have a wide range of species that can keep this ecosystem healthy and move precipitation. With climate change, you’re typically getting more big weather events: big wind events and big water events, rainstorms that erode soil and can’t be soaked up by the trees if the forest isn’t healthy.”

INTERN INNOVATION Rather than plant more beech or oak trees — and risk letting those trees be devoured by the same pests and diseases that have devastated the existing populations — ATREP is driven by a different concept: introducing new tree species to the local region. It’s an idea brought to northern Michigan by Maddy Baroli, a recent graduate of the Master of Forest Conservation program at the University of Toronto. A Metro Detroit native with a BA in environmental studies from the University of Michigan, Baroli relocated to Traverse City in 2016 to work with the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities. Last summer, while interning with Ross at the Leelanau Conservation District, she created an idea that would become not just the capstone project for her master’s degree, but also a potential new beginning for northern

THE HEAT IS ON Per NIACS data, Baroli says the temperature throughout the northern Michigan region is predicted to increase by 2 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of the next century, with warmer weather being particularly likely to hit in the winter and summer months. The area is also likely to see heavier precipitation events going forward. These factors are changing the local ecosystem in many ways. Flowering dates for plants are expected to occur earlier.

The growing season, in total, is projected to increase its length by anywhere from 30 to 70 days by the end of the century. The hot summers will lead to drier soils in the late season, which will in turn cause drought stress. The less severe winters will enable greater forest pest survival and bring new

The six tree species that are a part of ATREP this year — shagbark hickory, tulip tree, sassafras, black tupelo, hackberry, and swamp white oak — meet all of these criteria.

Michigan forestry.

“The idea to create ATREP came together slowly throughout my studies and my summer experience with Kama,” Baroli said.

“A lot of my studies focused on the effects of climate change and what forest health and management challenges it presents. I got really interested in the concept of assisted range expansion, which is defined as the ‘intentional movement of species to areas just outside their established range in response to climate change, facilitating or mimicking natural range expansion.’ When the summer rolled around and Kama and I did more and more site visits, it became clear that people were losing lots of trees to disease, severe weather, etc., and that they wanted to respond proactively in order to keep their forests resilient, beautiful, and supportive for wildlife.

The puzzle pieces just sort of fell together when I continued pulling at this thread and realized that the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS) actually had published a report which included predictive models that identify tree species that are predicted to gain new suitable habitat in northern Michigan.”

14 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

pests to the north.

While these changes pose an existential threat to many native northern Michigan tree species, Baroli believes assisted range expansion may hold the answer. The idea of ATREP is to take species of trees that aren’t native to the area — but that are predicted to thrive and reproduce in the changing climate — and to plant them here as a means of diversifying local forests and offsetting recent tree losses.

For Baroli, that means focusing on species that already thrive in southern Michigan and assisting their range expansion into the northern part of the state. This process, she says, is more natural (and much less risky) than migrating trees to the area from farther away.

“Trees do have the capacity to migrate on their own, in response to changes in regional climate patterns,” Baroli said.

“However, our fragmented landscape makes it difficult for them to do so. Think of the big agricultural belt in the middle of the state, housing developments, highways, and more. The chances of a bird pooping

out seeds in the right spot, or of the wind dispersing a seed to a spot where that tree is even going to have a fighting chance of growing, is increasingly limited.”

THE SUPER SOUTHERN SIX ATREP, in partnership with the Leelanau and Benzie Conservation Districts, will be helping this process of range expansion along.

Using predictions from the aforementioned NIACS report, Baroli handpicked six species of trees that: 1) are native to southern or midMichigan; 2) are predicted to thrive in the northern habitat; 3) are not preferred as deer browse or as hosts for the Asian longhorn beetle; and 4) would provide landowners with options to plant in sun or shade, dry or moist areas, and on open or forested land. Most of all, the tree species had to provide “distinct wildlife benefits” to the northern Michigan ecosystem.

The six tree species that are a part of ATREP this year — shagbark hickory, tulip tree, sassafras, black tupelo, hackberry, and swamp white oak — meet all of these criteria.

For instance, swamp white oak trees provide acorns for squirrels, beavers, bears, turkeys, and other wildlife, but are immune to the oak wilt disease that has affected many standard oak trees. The tulip tree, meanwhile, is a known larval host to many pollinators.

HOW YOU CAN HELP As a citizen science project, ATREP needs your help to succeed. The Leelanau and Benzie Conservation Districts are selling seedlings of all six trees between now and April 9, and are seeking private landowners to purchase, plant, and observe the trees over time. Baroli hopes that ATREP will lead to the planting of approximately 1,500 trees this season — and that it will net 25-30 participants to monitor and report back on tree health, growth, survival, and other metrics going forward. In addition to diversifying local forests, ATREP will ideally yield new, valuable research on assisted range expansion. In Michigan, the science so far remains new and lightly researched – though a published study by the University of Michigan showed promising results. Baroli notes that “more experiments are needed” and that ATREP, with the help of locals, can play that role.

Those interested in the ATREP citizen science project can purchase seedlings or learn more by contacting the Leelanau or Benzie Conservation Districts or by visiting the ATREP website at www.atrep.net.

CENSUS CRITICAL

For the next decade, Michigan’s representation in Congress and funding for Medicare, school lunches, education, childcare, infrastructure, transportation, and so much more hinge on the results of the 2020 U.S. Census. The official countdown is scheduled for April 1 — but that was before the pandemic put residents and census workers on lockdown. Do we have a Plan B?

By Craig Manning Census Day 2020 falls on April 1 — a fact that might register as something of a cruel April Fool’s joke in a year when the pandemic crisis has pushed virtually everything else from people’s minds. Still, despite the lockdowns, quarantines, fear, and uncertainty caused by the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), 2020 marks 10 years since the government’s last nationwide headcount. How could the virus impact the methods and accuracy of this year’s census — both locally and nationwide — and what are the stakes if census workers can’t pull it off this year?

BLIND DATES & BONUSES The April 1 Census Day is not a deadline.

Rather, when citizens do respond to the census, they are expected to tell the Census Bureau where they reside as of April 1. The actual deadline for responding to the census typically falls at the end of July — though the Census Bureau announced on Friday, March 20, that it would delay this year’s deadline to mid-August.

In a press release dated March 11, the Census Bureau stated that it had established a COVID-19 Internal Task Force “to continuously monitor the situation and update our Pandemic Addendum to the Census Bureau Continuity of Operations Plan.” The task force is intended to help the Bureau balance responsible, health-sensitive tactics with its core duties as a government entity. “The health and safety of our staff and the public is of the utmost consideration and importance,” the press release continued. “We must fulfill our constitutional obligation to deliver the 2020 Census counts to the President of the United States on schedule, and we must adhere to our core task of counting everyone once, only once, and in the right place.”

There is other good news: This year’s census is perhaps the most user-friendly in history, according to Jennifer Hutchinson. Hutchinson is the associate director of Disability Network Northern Michigan, which has received grant funding from local community development organization Networks Northwest to lead census outreach efforts aimed at individuals with disabilities in 17 northern Michigan counties. She says locals have no shortage of options when it comes to completing the 2020 census, which should hopefully limit the consequences of COVID-19’s bad timing.

“At this moment, you can go online [at www.2020census.gov], you can phone in, or you can mail in your census,” Hutchinson told Northern Express. “The Census Bureau has made it tremendously accessible this year.

There are also kiosks all around our area for people who are blind or low-vision, or for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and those amenities are still being offered. So, you can still reach the census.”

FACETIME SNAGS The challenge posed by COVID-19 is that many census outreach efforts — both locally and across the nation — typically rely on faceto-face interactions. As early as March 30, the Census Bureau typically launches on-the-

set up a kiosk at BATA’s downtown Traverse City transfer station to engage with people face to face.

“That obviously can’t happen right now, because of our social distancing requirements,” Hutchinson said of the BATA partnership. “I do anticipate that it’s going to happen at a later date, as soon as we get the opportunity and the all-clear. We are planning to reconvene that relationship and to operate in that capacity.”

In the meantime, Disability Network is launching an aggressive digital, phone, and direct mail campaign, aiming to keep its reach broad without losing the “personal touch” that out-in-the-community efforts would have enabled. It’s a pivot that the organization has been able to make relatively quickly, in part

Census 2020 is expected to push Traverse City over the 50,000-resident population threshold for the first time. That shift would designate Traverse City as a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which would bring new federal funding to the area for transportation projects and transit programs. ground efforts to count residents, starting with the homeless population (with visits to shelters, soup kitchens, tent encampments, and more) and moving on to college campuses, senior centers, nursing homes, prisons, and more.

Under normal circumstances, from May through July, census takers would make the rounds with tablets, knocking on doors of homes that had not responded to the 2020 Census’ mailed requests for information.

The current push for social distancing is calling the safety of many of these efforts into question, which has already caused delays in overall census operations. The Census Bureau has pushed back its efforts to count the homeless population a month, and most census takers — including those tallying up nursing homes, college dorms, and prisons — won’t get started until May at the earliest.

The virus has reshaped local efforts, as well. Hutchinson says that Disability Network was planning a “robust” and high-visibility campaign throughout northern Michigan: to spread the word about the census, explain its importance, and assist folks with disabilities in completing it. Beginning on Monday, March 16, the organization had planned to

because Hutchinson and her team had already worked out a contingency plan for what to do if COVID-19 happened to strike in the middle of census season. “We hoped it wouldn’t cause issues, but knew we needed an outreach strategy that would allow us to move forward without actually being able to be in social presence,” Hutchinson said.

CENSUS CONSEQUENCES Hutchinson adds that, in the 17-county service area that Disability Network reaches, getting an accurate and comprehensive count with the 2020 Census could make a quantifiable difference of more than $100 million in public services funding. In total, the nationwide census directs the geographic distribution of approximately $1.5 trillion in federal dollars.

Past statistics show that the census has only been successful in counting about 81 percent of the population. If Disability Network’s 17-county area misses out on 19 percent of its possible funding, that’s approximately $140 million in government money not making its way to northern Michigan.

“The census ultimately makes the funding decisions that affect not just people with

disabilities, but everyone,” Hutchinson said.

“It’s Medicare and Medicaid at health centers; it’s the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); it’s school lunches and education; it’s support for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; it’s Head Start early childhood programs; it’s childcare and foster care; it’s Section 8 housing vouchers; and it’s infrastructure and transportation. The census is not a small thing; it affects everybody.”

In addition to funding programs and government services such as these, the census also determines how many congressional Representatives states get, provides counts for redistricting, and more. For instance, Census 2020 is expected to push Traverse City over the 50,000-resident population threshold for the first time. That shift would designate Traverse City as a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which would bring new federal funding to the area for transportation projects and transit programs.

WHAT ABOUT REDISTRICTING? As for redistricting, the 2020 Census will dovetail with the changes brought by Michigan’s Proposal 2, a ballot item passed by voters in November 2018 that effectively “transfers the power to draw the state’s congressional and legislative districts from the state legislature to an independent redistricting commission.”

The independent commission will be made up of 13 randomly-selected registered voters from throughout Michigan, including “four who affiliate with the Democratic Party, four who affiliate with the Republican Party, and five who do not affiliate with either major political party.” As of March 13, the Michigan Secretary of State’s office had processed 3,590 applications for the commission and has received thousands more. The processed applications include 62 from Grand Traverse County and 184 from across Northern Express’s 13-county coverage territory.

Tracy Wimmer, director of media relations for the Michigan Secretary of State, says Michigan voters will be able to follow along with this entire process online at www.

RedistrictingMichigan.org.

She added that she doesn’t believe COVID-19 concerns will delay any stage of the selection process, but said that the Secretary of State’s office will follow public health guidance and coordinate with the office of Governor Gretchen Whitmer on that front.

Northern Express Weekly • march 30, 2020 • 15

Wishful Thinking Police in Las Cruces, New Mexico, who approached a woman driving a stolen car on March 7 were surprised when she identified herself as pop singer Beyonce Knowles, according to police documents. The Las Cruces Sun News reported officers had to use a fingerprint scanner to properly identify Surena Henry, 48. Henry at first ignored police when they tried to pull her over, according to court documents, but they followed her to her home, where she got out of the car but refused to give them her name. She was charged with stealing the vehicle, concealing her identity and resisting arrest.

Update News of the Weird reported in July 2017 about Jeff Reitz of Huntington Beach, California, who at that time had just achieved his 2,000th visit to Disneyland in Anaheim.

Since then, Reitz, 47, has continued his daily visits -- until March 13, when Disney closed its theme parks in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Reitz was just short of 3,000 visits, the Orange County Register reported, at 2,995.

“The streak’s been ended,” Reitz said. He does not plan to continue his consecutive streak when the park reopens. “On the negative side, I didn’t get to choose the end,” he said. “But on the positive side, I didn’t have to choose the end.” While he’s practicing social isolation, Reitz plans to watch some movies on ... you guessed it, Disney Plus.

People Are Good Just a few hours after Harris County, Texas, declared that all bars and nightclubs would have to close on March 16, an anonymous diner at Irma’s Southwest restaurant in downtown Houston did their best to help out.

The customer, who left a $9,400 tip, wrote on the receipt: “Hold tip to pay your guys over the next few weeks.” United Press International said Irma’s will split the tip among the employees, giving them each about $300.

I Hate When That Happens Sage Aaron Cummins, 24, of Gallup, New Mexico, woke up one recent morning and found he had two TVs in his room that had not been there the day before. Two days later, he found out an acquaintance was missing two TVs and put two and two together.

According to Gallup police, Cummins returned to the victim’s apartment with the goods and approached an officer who was there investigating the burglary report. He told the officer he had been “very intoxicated” when he knocked on a door that evening and, when no one answered, he entered the home, but he didn’t remember what happened after that. Cummins told police he “wanted to make things right and return the stolen items,” according to the Associated Press.

Nevertheless, he was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property.

Awesome!

When Alexandria Miller, 28, of Chicago, Illinois, won a two-inch goldfish at a carnival in July 2018, she assumed he would stay the same size. But since then, Gerald the goldfish has grown to be 12 inches long, and Miller has spent $1,300 upgrading his tanks to accommodate him (she’s already looking for a bigger one). And, the Mirror reported, Gerald is not shy about getting his needs met. “He does lay around a lot, but it seems when he’s bored or hungry, he jumps out of the water

and likes to grab the thermometer inside his tank,” Miller said. “He’ll click it against the glass till he’s got our attention.” But, she went on, “If I put a smaller fish in there with him, he will eat them.”

Signs of the Times During the COVID-19 crisis, some people in Japan have resorted to pilfering toilet paper from public restrooms when the rolls became unavailable in stores. One convenience store worker put the power of the supernatural to work against such thefts.

Mink Itachibe, who works at a store in the Niigata prefecture, hung signs with images of eyes and kanji characters in front of the toilet paper to curse the tempting rolls. “I did it as a joke, but it seems to have worked,” she told CNN. The symbols imply that if someone nips TP from the store, a hungry monster will hunt them down and gobble them up.

“People can be quite superstitious in Japan,” Itachibe said.

Add to the list of things not to leave in plain sight in your car: toilet paper. Police in Eugene, Oregon, stated that on March 15, a thief shattered the entire back window of an SUV in order to get his mitts on two 30roll cases of toilet paper, along with other valuables, the Blaze reported. “Anytime vehicles are left unattended for extended periods of time, local thieves view it as a favorable opportunity,” police reminded Oregonians.

Compelling Explanation Slidell, Louisiana, police pulled over a driver on Feb. 27 for an undisclosed reason, but the car’s license plate really got their attention. The tag had expired in September 1997 -- more than 20 years ago -- the Miami Herald reported. “Sorry, officer,” police said the man told them. “I’ve been busy lately and totally forgot to renew my vehicle registration.

I will take care of it as soon as I get home!”

Slidell police posted the incident to their Facebook page, commenting: “For those of you who like to ‘switch tags,’ at least give us a good challenge.”

Government in Action In 1993, Alabama banned yoga in public schools under a general prohibition of the use of “hypnosis and dissociative mental states.”

Now, Rep. Jeremy Gray has proposed a bill that would let schools offer yoga as an elective class, but religious groups are expected to fight it. “It’s the Hindu religion,” said Joe Godfrey of the Alabama Citizens Action Program. But Gray is hoping the general acceptance of yoga will prevail. “I really don’t see what the big deal is,” he told NBC News. “I mean, my wife does this, my mother does this on the floor of her Methodist church.”

Florida Cody Hicks, 23, was reportedly driving erratically and crashed into another car on March 13 in Manatee County, Florida -- in itself, not weird. But what he did next perplexed the two young women in the car and onlookers. According to the Manatee County Sheriff ’s Office, Hicks emerged from his vehicle, pulled down his pants and underwear, and fondled himself while sticking out his tongue at witnesses. ClickOrlando. com reported deputies said Hicks would only tell them, “I want my lawyer.” He was arrested for a lewd and lascivious exhibition and entered a plea of not guilty.

16 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

the ADViCE GOddESS Complain Crash

Legally Bland

: My 22-year-old son’s new girlfriend is extremely pretty. She has a great figure and dresses to show it off, so I understand the attraction. However, she’s also spoiled, lazy, and kind of a scam artist. (She bragged about cheating a small business.) I pointed out her shortcomings to my son, but he refused to listen and even defended her. Can I get him to end it without being the overbearing mother?

— Upset Mom

Q

Q

you see only flaws, your son sees a A:lotThough in this woman: BOOOOOOOBS!

A

It’s natural you’d want to scold him away from a train wreck with cleavage, same as you’d save him from a speeding car about to turn him into a human hood ornament. However, telling him all the reasons this woman’s awful — which amounts to pressuring him to dump her — is exactly the wrong thing to do. Consider Romeo and Juliet (and let’s momentarily forget they were fictional characters). As teen love goes, I suspect they would’ve gotten bored and cheated on each other in under a month if their parents hadn’t been all, “We forbid you to see that Montague knave/that Capulet tramp!”

When our freedom of choice — our freedom to do as we want — is threatened (even just by people trying to persuade us to change our ways), it triggers a motivational state that social psychologist Jack Brehm called “reactance.”

Reactance is a form of rebellion — a “reaction” against control, energizing a person to resist, to keep engaging in the behavior they’re being pressed to stop. Reactance can even strengthen the person’s resolve — increase their desire for whatever (or whomever) somebody’s urging them to part company with. Basically, by telling your son all the reasons he should dump this woman, you turn him into the pro bono defense attorney for her humanitarianism — like how she, um...um...runs a rescue for designer handbags!

Character doesn’t always seem important in a partner until a person gets knocked around by somebody with some big vacancies in that department. In other words, if you want your son to dump this ethically elastic chickie, the ideal thing to say is nothing. Let him marinate in her bad character. Hard as it will be to keep mum, you might try to view him as midway through the natural recovery process in the wake of contracting a nasty parasite — one that’s 5-foot-7 and blonde with window-sized Gucci sunglasses you suspect she lifted from some distracted wealthy lady’s restaurant table.

BY Amy Alkon

: My boyfriend is best friends with another girl. He told me they tried dating years ago, but nothing came of it, and they really are just friends. She’s been very welcoming to me, but I’m still uneasy that he’s so close with a woman he once dated. I can’t help but wonder whether the bit about straight men not being able to be friends with women is true.

— Nervous : Picture the city dump. Sexually, to your boyfriend, this woman might as well be an old tire, a single dingy couch cushion (whereabouts of rest of dingy couch unknown), or a phone book from Buttcrack, Montana, circa 1982.

In fact, there’s a chance he was never very attracted to her. Generally speaking, men are a lot less likely than women to turn down a possibility for having sex. Also, before he got naked with her, the prospect of having sex with her was what neuroscience researchers call a “novel reward” — a term for feelgood stuff we have yet to experience. Excitement over the new might even be mistaken for the excitement of really being attracted to somebody, because novelty causes a surge in dopamine, the neurochemical that energizes us to pursue new and rewarding things.

The problem is “reward prediction errors,” neuroscientist Wolfram Schultz’s term for the difference between how great we think a new thing will be and how kinda-sorta okay it ends up being. When reality falls short of our expectations — when somebody turns out to be sexy like used gruel — dopamine goes into sag mode. This is effectively a neurochemical energy embargo — a crash diet on the motivation juice needed to drive any further pursuit of whatever we found bummerific.

You might find it reassuring to ask your boyfriend why it didn’t work between them and pry a little bit into how attracted he was to her. This could tell you that you have something to worry about, but at least you’d know. Sure, straight men and women can have trouble remaining just friends if they have any sort of hots for each other. However, a straight man who is sexually bored with a woman is one you can probably trust just fine to be in her presence. Even if she’s naked, with head-to-toe body glitter, performing the (Lap) Dance of the Seven Veils.

lOGY

MARCH 30 - APRIL 05

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES

(March 21-April 19): “If all the world’s a stage, where the hell is the teleprompter,” asks aphorist Sami Feiring. In my astrological opinion, you Aries are the least likely of all the signs to identify with that perspective. While everyone else might wish they could be better prepared for the nonstop improvisational tests of everyday life, most of you tend to prefer what I call the “naked spontaneity” approach. If you were indeed given the chance to use a teleprompter, you’d probably ignore it. Everything I just said is especially and intensely true for you right now.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) If you

have been thinking of adopting a child or getting pregnant with a new child, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to enter a new phase of rumination about that possibility. If you’ve been dreaming off and on about a big project that could activate your dormant creative powers and captivate your imagination for a long time to come, now would be a perfect moment to get more practical about it. If you have fantasized about finding a new role that would allow you to express even more of your beauty and intelligence, you have arrived at a fertile phase to move to the next stage of that fantasy.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I suggest

you make room in your life for a time of sacred rejuvenation. Here are activities you might try: Recall your favorite events of the past. Reconnect with your roots. Research your genetic heritage.

Send prayers to your ancestors, and ask them to converse with you in your dreams. Have fun feeling what it must have been like when you were in your mother’s womb. Get a phone consultation with a past life regression therapist who can help you recover scenes from your previous incarnations. Feel reverence and gratitude for traditions that are still meaningful to you. Reaffirm your core values—the principles that serve as your lodestar. And here’s the number one task I recommend: Find a place of refuge in your imagination and memories; use your power of visualization to create an inner sanctuary.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Are we just being poetic and fanciful when we say that wonder is a survival skill? Not according to the editors who assembled the collection of essays gathered in a book called Wonder and Other Survival Skills. They propose that a capacity to feel awe and reverence can help us to be vital and vigorous; that an appreciation for marvelous things makes us smart and resilient; that it’s in our selfish interests to develop a humble longing for sublime beauty and an attraction to sacred experiences. The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to dive deep into these healing pleasures, dear Aquarius.

PISCES (Feb 19-March 20): For decades, the city of Sacramento, California suffered from severe floods when the Sacramento and American Rivers overflowed their banks.

Residents authorized a series of measures to prevent these disasters, culminating in the construction of a 59,000-acre floodplain that solved the problem.

According to my analysis, the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to plan an equally systematic transformation. It could address a big ongoing problem like Sacramento’s floods, or it could be a strategy for reorganizing and recreating your life so as to gloriously serve your long-term dreams.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): When Nobel Prize-

winning Norwegian author Knut Hamsun was 25 years old, a doctor told him that the tuberculosis he had contracted would kill him within three months.

But in fact, Hamsun lived 67 more years, till the age of 92. I suspect there’s an equally erroneous prophecy or unwarranted expectation impacting your life right now. A certain process or phenomenon that seems to be nearing an end may in fact reinvent or resurrect itself, going on to last for quite some time. I suggest you clear away any misapprehensions you or others might have about it.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I invite you to remember what you were thinking and feeling around your birthday in 2019. Were there specific goals you hoped to accomplish between

then and your birthday in 2020? Were there bad old habits you aimed to dissolve and good new habits you proposed to instigate? Was there a lingering wound you aspired to heal or a debilitating memory you longed to conquer? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to take inventory of your progress in

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I can’t swim.

Why? There was a good reason when I was a kid: I’m allergic to chlorine, and my mom wouldn’t let me take swimming lessons at the local chlorinetreated pool. Since then, the failure to learn is inexcusable, and I’m embarrassed about it. Is there an equivalent phenomenon in your life, my fellow Cancerian? The coming weeks might be an excellent time to meditate on how to correct the problem. Now excuse me while I head out to my solo self-administered swim lesson at Bass Lake, buoyed by the instructions I got from a Youtube video.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is William Shakespeare

the greatest author who ever lived? French philosopher Voltaire didn’t think so, calling him “an amiable barbarian.” Russian superstar author Leo Tolstoy claimed The Bard had “a complete absence of aesthetic feeling.” England’s first Poet Laureate John Dryden called Shakespeare’s language “scarcely intelligible.” T. E. Lawrence, a.k.a Lawrence of Arabia, declared The Bard had a second-rate mind. Lord Byron said, “Shakespeare’s name stands too absurdly high and will go down.” His contemporary, the poet and playwright Ben Johnson, asserted that he “never had six lines together without a fault.” I offer these cheeky views to encourage you Leos to enjoy your own idol-toppling and authority-questioning activities in the coming weeks. You have license to be an irrepressible iconoclast.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo-born Jack Ma is China’s richest person and one of the world’s most powerful businessmen. He cofounded Alibaba, the Chinese version of Amazon. com. He likes his employees to work hard, but also thinks they should cultivate a healthy balance between work and life. In his opinion, they should have sex six times a week, or 312 times a year. Some observers have suggested that’s too much—especially if you labor 12 hours a day, six days a week, as Jack Ma prefers—but it may not be excessive for you Virgos. The coming months could be a very erotic time. But please practice safe sex in every way imaginable.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): How hard are you willing to work on your most important relationships? How might your life change for the better if you gave them your most potent resourcefulness and panache? The next eight weeks will be a favorable time for you to attend to these matters, Libra.

During this fertile time, you will have unprecedented power to reinvigorate togetherness with imaginative innovations. I propose you undertake the following task: Treat your intimate alliances as creative art projects that warrant your supreme ingenuity.

ScORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I make

mistakes,” confessed author Jean Kerr. “I’ll be the second to admit it.” She was making a joke, contrasting her tepid sense of responsibility with the humbler and more common version of the idiom, which is “I make mistakes; I’ll be the first to admit it.” In the coming weeks, I’ll be fine if you merely match her mild level of apology—just as long as you do indeed acknowledge some culpability in what has gone amiss or awry or off-kilter. One way or another, you need to be involved in atonement and correction—for your own sake.

“Jonesin” Crosswords "Indoor Activities" where everything is in doors. by Matt Jones

ACROSS 1 “Knives Out” sleuth Benoit 6 1/8 of a fluid ounce 10 MTV mainstay Loder who turns 75 soon 14 Jasmine’s pet tiger in “Aladdin” 15 Tabula ___ (blank slate) 16 Abbr. on egg cartons 17 Best effort, slangily 18 Oklahoma town near Vance AFB 19 Benefit of time off 20 Request that’s asking a lot 23 Prefix with laryngologist 24 Fire starter?

25 Bio., chem., or biochem.

28 Overachieving college student’s quest 35 “___ Can Cook” (former cooking show) 36 Bobbing necessities 37 Film segue, perhaps 38 “Neato!”

40 Carrere who sang in “Wayne’s World” 41 New ___, Conn. (home of Yale) 42 ___ O’s (cookie-based cereal) 43 Britton in season 1 of “American Horror Story” 45 “Able was I ___ I saw Elba” 46 Job for a resident assistant 48 It has teeth but no mouth 49 Do mild exercise 50 Edinburgh cap 52 Something you can’t take up at the mall 59 “Dear ___ Hansen” 61 Military no-show, briefly 62 “CSI” or “NCIS” 63 Seconds, e.g.

64 Jolt, for one 65 Chamillionaire hit parodied by Weird Al 66 Has claim to 67 Bend out of shape 68 “Byzantium” poet

DOWN 1 Garrett of “Everybody Loves Raymond” 2 Loch : Scottish :: ___ : Spanish 3 In ___ (stuck) 4 “... and Bingo was his ___” 5 “Allowed” time to go off a regimen?

6 Number of e’s in Heidelberg?

7 Tried to get hold of 8 “Oh, right!”

9 Butterfly and Bovary, for two 10 “Seven Samurai” director Akira 11 Password typer, maybe 12 Satnav suggestions 13 Inky artwork 21 “I touched your nose!” sound 22 Energetic spirit 25 Assembly of clergy 26 Capital near the Great Sphinx 27 Conclude from evidence 29 “Oil!” author Sinclair 30 Pancakes sometimes served with caviar 31 Inclined 32 Swing dances 33 Nightly streaming offering from the Met 34 Sign up again for an online subscription 39 “It’s Not Unusual” singer 41 Field involving coats-of-arms 43 Courvoisier and Hennessy, e.g.

44 Teeniest bit 47 Do a yard job 51 Callender in the frozen food aisle 52 “Well, heck” 53 “Star Wars” series creature 54 Kind of proprietor 55 Attack, like a kitty while you’re trying to work 56 “Look what I did!”

57 Leave out 58 Also-___ (election conceders) 59 Moody music genre 60 Altar words

Northern Express Weekly • march 30, 2020 • 17

Moore Returns with New Album

MODERN

Mandy Moore

ROCK

BY KRISTI KATES

Singer and actress Mandy Moore (of TV show This is Us) has released her first album since her 2009 release, Amanda Leigh. The new set, called Silver Landings, was produced alongside her husband, Taylor Goldsmith, of Dawes, and producer Mike Viola. Moore promoted the set with a stop at Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, where she performed the set’s first retro-inflected, nostalgic single “When I Wasn’t Watching” …

Former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher’s MTV Unplugged session is being released as a separate album; until now, tracks from the session were available only on Gallagher’s Acoustic Sessions EP. Now, 10 tracks from his MTV appearance, including Oasis classics “Champagne Supernova” and “Some Might Say,” as well as Gallagher solo tracks “Gone” and “Wall of Glass,” can be found on Liam Gallagher: MTV Unplugged Live at Hull City Hall. The album, out April 24, is available for pre-order, in a variety of formats, online …

With Broadway theaters shuttered and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton on hiatus, Miranda took to Twitter to cheer up fans with a previously unreleased song from the musical. The tune, “I Have This Friend,” was shared by Miranda as the first draft of the song before “The Reynolds Pamphlet.” It features Miranda as Alexander Hamilton and

Christopher Jackson as George Washington during the scene where Hamilton goes to President Washington for advice. The song was cut from the final production of Hamilton.

The full soundtrack for the Harrison Ford/Karen Gillan/Dan Stevens adventure movie Call of the Wild (from the Jack London book of the same name) has been released, with original music written by Academy Award-nominated composer John Powell, who also worked on music for movies like X-Men: The Last Stand, Shrek, and The Bourne Identity. Included on the track list, and befitting the movie’s setting in the wilds of the Alaska Yukon during the 1890s gold rush, are tunes “Train North,” “Skagway, Alaska,” “Ice Rescue,” “Buck Takes the Lead,” and “Newfangled Telegram”…

LINK OF THE WEEK 5 Seconds of Summer has joined forces with director Hannah Lux Davis for a new music video for its latest single, “Old Me.” Filmed in Sydney, Australia, the video includes retrospective clips from the band’s career to date. Check it out at https://youtu. be/i0jZJtE1KhU …

THE BUZZ Following the release of The Jonas Brothers’ latest single, “What a Man Gotta

Do,” comes the announcement that a new album from the trio is on the way soon. The band’s last album, Happiness Begins, was released in mid-2019 …

A new iPhone app called Jadu allows users to “dance” alongside the digital/hologram images of popular musicians like Palaye Royale, Sir Chloe, and rapper Vic Mensa …

Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, founding members of the Black Crowes, now performing as Brothers of a Feather, played a gig at this year’s Love Rocks NYC

benefit show, which will likely be their last live show for some time …

Grand Rapids band Pink Sky has just released its first remix album, Meditations Reworked, which features a half-dozen fellow Michigan musicians and six diverse styles of electronic music … and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

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

NORTHERN EXPRESS

OTHER

CLASSIFIEDS ____________________________________

____________________________________

ROOM FOR RENT IN PETOSKEY Private bedroom and bath. $750 per month all utilities included. 616-430-0453 ____________________________________

YARN CRAFTERS JOIN US at KNITOLOGY’s Pajama Jam March 27th, 6pm-11pm. go to www.facebook.com/ tcknitology/events. Free event! ____________________________________

NEED A HANDYMAN? Job too small for a contractor: but bigger than you care to tackle. Call Justin serving Northern MI 989-889-5101 ____________________________________

INSIDE SALES REPRESENTATIVE LIBRARY SALES Full time. Role will require back to back calls and a minimum of 4-5 demos daily. Compensation includes hourly pay, commission, bonuses, PTO, good benefits and supportive office. Potential to make $45K or more annually. Little to no travel required. Cover letter required, persuade us why you’re the right candidate. Email Adam Weis: aweis@worldtradrepress.com ____________________________________

MASSAGE THERAPIST POSITIONPART TIME-Traverse City Massage therapist wanted for part time, year round position. Flexibility to work weekdays and weekends as needed to allow us to schedule couples massage and overflow. We are a well established and respected one therapist office that wishes to expand our offerings and staff. $25/hr + tips. Must be certified. Send resume to Susan happyfeetmassagetc@ gmail.com ____________________________________

ADOPTION: COUPLE SEEKING to adopt a baby to join our family.

Expenses Paid. Call/text Morgan and Brian (929) 336-1555 or visit morganbrianadopting.com. ____________________________________

TRANSPORTION SERVICE Black tie limousine service available for weddings and wine tours and breweries

MASSAGE Therapeutic Massage $59 by appt. Denise Kennedy LMT 941-2322265. Traverse City

18 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

MISCELLANEOUS DIRECTV - Switch and Save! $39.99/month. Select AllIncluded Package. 155 Channels. 1000s of Shows/Movies On Demand. FREE Genie HD DVR Upgrade. Premium movie channels, FREE for 3 mos! Call 1-855293-4417

northernexpress.com/classifieds

Mike Annelin

Enthusiastic & Experienced

Call Mike 231-499-4249 or 231-929-7900 EP

L SA

ING

D EN

Spacious double lot in desirable Slabtown 5 Bed/4 Bath, magnificent finishes throughout $1,395,000 MLS#1858727

133’ of beautiful Old Mission Peninsula frontage Stylishly impeccable 3 Bed/2.5 Bath $1,100,000 MLS# 1872313

7 Modern Live/Work Units near Boardman Lake Very unique investment opportunity $1,100,000 MLS#1854942

LD

SO

Two 20 Acre parcels on Old Mission Peninsula Prime AG land, Conservation Easement in place $890,000 MLS# 1872811

Desirable State Street neighborhood Marvelously updated Craftsman, 5 Bed/3 Bath $575,00 MLS# 1869152

West Grand Traverse Bay views from Wayne Hill Pool, gorgeous landscaping, fine finishes $650,000 MLS#1870675

39.5 acres, zoned Moderate Density Residential 3 Bed/1 Bath ranch, just miles from town $650,000 MLS#1863607, MLS#1863608

3 Bed/2.5 Bath in desirable Morgan Farms Immaculate Home, elegant craftsmanship $530,000 MLS# 1872877

Charming one-of-a-kind on Old Mission Peninsula Incredible landscaping & award-winning historic barn $525,000 MLS# 186240

EP

L SA

3 Bed/2.5 Bath ranch on Old Mission Peninsula Bayside Woods sub, 330’ shared West Bay frontage $375,000 MLS# 1872754

ING

D EN

Zoned Commercial, great possibilities Rental home recently updated, near Boardman Lake $185,000 MLS# 1868433, MLS# 1868466

EP

L SA

ING

D EN

Beautiful Lake Leelanau views 9.1 acres, split available, elevated home sites $100,000 MLS# 1872535

Northern Express Weekly • march 30, 2020 • 19

STAY SAFE Valued Guests and Community Members, The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians as well as the entire team here at Odawa Casino stand with those impacted by COVID-19 during this time of unprecedented challenges.

Here is what you can do to help keep yourself and others safe: • Wash your hands frequently with soap and water, for at least 20 seconds.

• Use an alcohol based hand sanitizer that contains a minimum of 60% alcohol when soap and water are not available. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw used tissues in the trash.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, phones, etc.

• If you are sick, please stay home with the exception of seeking medical care.

Please stay safe and thank you to our loyal patrons and dedicated team members.

Odawa March Northern Express Ad 3/23 APPROVED.indd 1 2051299 • march 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

3/18/20 2:54 PM