Northern Express - January 04, 2020

NORTHERN

express northernexpress.com

New Year, New You

Take the Mocktail Challenge Remember the B-52 Bomber Crash Try a Local Expert’s Resolution NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • january 04 - january 10, 2021 • Vol. 31 No. 01 Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 1

A gorgeous view and wonderful setting

NEW YEAR, NEW SKIS! Same high quality service, products and staff to make this your best season yet.

946-8810

Noverr Farms noverrfarms.com

890 Munson Ave - Traverse City www.donorrskihaus.com

WEDDING RECEPTIONS AND GATHERINGS 40 & 70 ft sliding doors east and west provide excellent airflow to all attendees

Refresh your look.

Rejuvenate your skin.

Undo 2020!

Stress can cause damage to your skin — from wrinkles to redness to collagen reduction. BRIGHTEN UP the new year with a skin consultation and treatment.

LEAVE 2020 BEHIND!

FIELDS CHELSEA WATERPROOF

144 E FRONT STREET

MO-TH 10-6

TRAVERSE CITY, MI 49684

FR-SA 10-8

plamondons.com

SU 1-5

2 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

HYDRAFACIAL CHEMICAL PEELS DERMAL FILLERS BOTOX & DYSPORT ACNE TREATMENTS HALO LASER FOREVER YOUNG

#brighterdays

THE CENTER

for Plastic Surgery & Skin Care

231.929.7700 TheCenterForYou.com

letters 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.

HIT SEND! 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 agree to allow us to edit.

That’s it.

Email info@northernexpress.com and hit send!

Good News Possible As I look at the spread of COVID-19, I begin to realize this is a warning from nature of what is to come if we continue to ignore science. In parts of the country where people ignored the health warnings over Thanksgiving, we see spikes in the number of people infected with the virus versus other areas where individuals heeded the warnings. Similarly, when we ignore the warnings about climate change, many people with respiratory illnesses die prematurely due to fossil fuel pollution.

Good news is at hand. We now have vaccines that are over 90 percent effective in protecting people from the virus. We have similar good news with our struggles with climate change since our technology has driven down the cost of renewable energy, which in turn bent our projected curve from 4.1 degrees centigrade to 3.6 degrees.

If our biases about vaccines guide our behaviors, more people will be infected, and many more will die needlessly. In a similar vein, if we don’t move toward an economy based on renewables, we will miss the opportunity to avoid the projected consequences of climate change, including extreme weather and chronic coastal flooding.

Great news: We can move quickly to end the pandemic by getting the vaccine to everyone. Likewise, we can utilize our market economy to incentivize individuals to move away from fossil fuels and use renewables that not only reduce premature deaths, but also create jobs, lower transportation and utility costs, and reduce income inequality. So, listen to those who have taken the vaccination and notice how they are doing, and then listen to the

economists who say that the most efficient and simple way to get rid of fossil fuel pollution is to charge the producers a fee for polluting our environment and return that fee back to the public.

Ronald Marshall, Petoskey Crime and Punishment Imagine hearing your son ask his mother this: “Daddy’s going to get executed?” This actually happened to Chris Krebs, Trump’s appointment to “secure the presidential election.” His crime? Declaring there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

He was fired, of course, for telling the truth. And then he was punished by a flood of hatred and obscenity by mail, by phone, by howling mobs at his door — some bearing arms. Trump lawyer Joe diGenova said publicly that Krebs should be tortured and killed.

This is not an isolated case. It’s happened to election officials all over the country — in Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina. Armed militia surrounded a ballot box in Oregon, and Vermont election officials were threatened with “execution by firing squad.”

So, where were you, Jack Bergman, self-described straight shooter, as this kind of intimidation took root in our country? Where was your right-thinking independence?

Why did you choose instead to climb aboard a hapless train of 126 get-along, go-along Trumpistas? You’re not dumb. You knew this was simply a cynical display of political theater. You knew that the Supreme Court would find your suit as empty as have judges all over the country.

Face it: The source of the lies that lit your way is the president, who has always known that if you repeat a falsehood often enough, people will start believing it. It’s the principle of advertising.

Porter Abbott, Northport An Open Letter to Congress On Jan. 6 you will be taking part in an act that should be merely a procedural formality. You will be confirming and accepting, into record, the results of our Nov. 3 election and the findings of the Electoral College.

You have taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, this country, and its people. The eyes of the country and of the world will be watching to see if you believe in our democracy and the process that makes this country special — safe and secure elections and a peaceful transfer of power.

Do not bow at the feet of a false idol.

Stand up! Stand straight! Stand proud!

Stay true to your oath. Continue to keep this act only a procedural formality. Do the right thing.

Connie Rumbach, Cedar Light at the End of the Tunnel At 5am Dec. 15, I woke to the news on my radio. The first vials of COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed in the USA were sent to California. And the Electoral College

performed its job as it was sworn to do. At that point, I felt it no longer mattered when, or even if, President Trump conceded the election to its rightful winner.

And as I looked at it in this light, there was another takeaway for schoolchildren who missed so much in this awful pandemic; for they surely gained a valuable lesson watching a billionaire who held the American Dream in his hands show himself to be a vindictive, shallow, and unhappy person.

His greatest legacy in years to come will likely prove very significant as he has tested our nation, its values, and moral fiber to the core, and shown us and the world our greatest weaknesses. What must emerge is a wiser, stronger, and fairer nation. We will correct some of our faults, but we must not try to sweep our history under the rug!

None of it is part and parcel of who we are, and we must endeavor to only grow stronger from this ordeal.

Colin Bohash, Honor Hunger & Homelessness One in every six Michigan children will go to bed hungry tonight. Almost 2 million Michiganders are wondering where their next meals are coming from this winter. It is estimated there are at least 200 homeless individuals in the Traverse City area.

Hunger and homelessness were already growing problems prior to the pandemic. As a result, food banks and homeless shelters are in need of donations now more than ever. In Traverse City, Women’s March TC will focus on a fundraiser and donation drive to be held Jan. 23. This event will benefit the Grace Episcopal Church Food Pantry and Jubilee House (a day shelter).

Volunteers will be taking food, clothing items, and monetary donations. We will compile a list of needed items and post them on the Women’s March TC FB page.

In the meantime, we continue to struggle to feed the hungry and provide shelter to the needy and call on lawmakers to make ending hunger and homelessness a priority in the coming year.

Peggy Fry, Women’s March TC Rights & Ridiculousness This letter is in response to Michael Dost’s letter in the Dec. 21 issue, “An Illuminating Idea.” Michael, you doth protest too much! How dare you infringe upon the rights of those who choose not to turn on their vehicle lights? Do you not see that it infringes upon the rights of drivers to not be seen? It’s the same as wearing a mask into a store. How dare we require a mask on those who choose to exercise their right to spread their germs upon others! Why, these examples are nearly as blasphemous as not allowing guns to be carried wherever and whenever one deems necessary, including assault weapons in our state capitol! How dare you! It is unimaginable to me that there are those among us that just don’t understand!

(For those that require an explanation, this is called “sarcasm.”)

Tom Speers Fife Lake

CONTENTS features Mocktail Challenge........................................7

Remember The B-52 Bomber Crash..............10 New Year, New You....................................12

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

Spectator/Stephen Tuttle...............................6 Opinion..........................................................8 Weird............................................................9 Dates........................................................12 Advice.....................................................16 Crossword.................................................17 Astrology.....................................................17 Classifieds...............................................18

Northern Express Weekly is published by Eyes Only Media, LLC. Publisher: Luke Haase PO Box 4020 Traverse City, Michigan 49685 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, Amy Martin, Anna Faller 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.

SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Keep your letter to 300 words or less, send no more than one per month, include your name/address/phone number, and agree to allow us to edit. That’s it.

Email info@northernexpress.com and hit send!

Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 3

this week’s

top ten TRAVERSE CITY’S VIRTUAL FILM FEST

The State Theatre may be closed, but the box office is open at the Virtual State Theatre.

A small selection of movies curated by filmmaker Michael Moore will be available each week to rent and view on the device of your choice.

Moore said the Virtual State is a way to bring the Traverse City Film Festival to life even though there was no film festival in 2020.

“What would you say if we were to magically make the 2020 Traverse City Film Festival come to life, right now, while it’s still 2020, right here in TC, and carry it through into the new year with a list of great movies I’ve discovered and am desperate to show you?” Moore wrote in an announcement. “Not in our theaters, which sadly must remain closed during this pandemic, but in your own homes, brought to you through a virtual cinema I and others have built — TCFF’s newest theater — the Virtual State.”

Movies cost $12, or $6 for members.

Go to thevirtualstate.org and for more information; to find a film, click on the FIND A GREAT MOVIE! tab.

Walk a Candlelit Mile in Charlevoix Between 5pm and 8pm, every Friday through Feb. 26, you’re invited — in boots or on snowshoes or XC skis — to enjoy a free mile-long, candle-lit walk through the wooded trails of Mt. McSauba in Charlevoix. The looped trail changes weekly but will always start just west of the ski lodge. Call the City of Charlevoix Recreation Department at (231) 547-3253 if you have questions.

4

Hey, read it!

“A Promised Land”

Hailed as one of the year’s most anticipated titles, Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land” offers a behind-the-scenes look at his life in the Oval Office and the years-long trek it took to get there.

Stunningly plain and keenly personal, the first of Obama’s post-mortem memoirs chronicles the hard-fought paths — both public and private — that made him president. From a young buck on the basketball court to the crucial caucus in Iowa that cemented his victory, Obama invites readers along as he bears the brunt of a new generation and battles opposition as the first Black president, all while adjusting to life in the spotlight. Discerningly written and distinctively set, “A Promised Land” is a modern exploration of daily diplomacy and required canon for the informed American.

5

2

tastemaker Food Arabia’s Shawarma

Tanjina Noushin, Roksana Yesmin, and Sabina Yesmin immigrated to America to flee life-threatening political persecution in Bangladesh. So opening a restaurant in the middle of the pandemic … ? For these brave business partners, that’s small potatoes. Their Food Arabia, opened last month in the food court at the Grand Traverse Mall, confidently serves up Middle Eastern fare like shawarma, hummus, falafel, gyro rice bowls with chicken and lamb, Arabian burgers, and even Rose Mashrub (think: rose-flavored smoothie). Our Lebanese/Polish editor tried and loved the shawarma, a perfectly toasted pita loaded with a very generous amount of savory shredded chicken, dressed in a garlic-yogurt sauce that leaned closer to sweet than biting, and — more surprising yet — was equally enjoyed by her notoriously picky 3-year-old.

A steal of a meal for $4.99. Find it at the food court inside the Grand Traverse Mall, 3200 W. South Airport Rd., Traverse City. (929) 346-2210 to order ahead; search “Food Arabia” on Facebook to follow.

4 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

Flavor 203 S. Cedar - Kalkaska

6

FROM DEMO-ED HOMES, TINY HOUSES RISE

A year ago, Andy Gale, president of Bay Area Recycling for Charities, was looking for new ways to generate revenue just as his nonprofit launched a house recycling program.

Zoom ahead to today and now BARC offers “tiny house” structures for sale, constructed out of materials from recycled homes, material that otherwise would have wound up in landfills.

“It just seemed to be that the stars just all seemed to align,” Gale said.

Gale couldn’t have picked a better time to start selling tiny structures. He said folks have been buying them for their backyards as places to social distance, and restaurant owners have bought them to make shelter for serving food outdoors.

The structures range from 100 to 400 square feet and cost $50 per square foot before finishes.

For more information, visit mybarc.org.

Stuff we love

Hidden Treasures Feeding Artistic Souls Whether this is the year you begin painting, finish your novel, or simply search your soul in a secret diary, start your endeavor with a stop at Traverse City’s Wild Pages.

Far more than a stationary shop, this magical addition to Front Street houses the essential tools for your life’s creative works — quality art supplies, thoughtful books, decorative paper, and hand-bound blank journals (made in house) to name just a few — as well as the nonessential but darn lovely — scissors shaped like storks, bumblebee-emblazoned brass dies for sealing letters with wax, fountain pen ink in colors like Bilberry and Earl Grey … . The fact that it’s somewhat hidden below The Coin Slot arcade at the busy corner of Front St. and Boardman Ave. only adds to its allure. Open Wednesdays through Sundays (by appointment Mondays and Tuesdays), Wild Pages is located at 346 E. Front.

Online shopping and curbside delivery available. (231) 510-0308, wildpages.com.

In-Person Art Opening Kicking off the New Year in its new, bigger space on Traverse City’s Front St., the 5-yearold Higher Art Gallery is greeting 2021 with a triple billing of three Michigan artists: T.J. Schwartz, Ann Willey, and Mary Fortuna, (their respective work shown left to right above).

The all-women show, “Personal Myth, Tales and Icons,” opens Jan. 6. See it at the gallery, 219 E. Front St., or online at www.highergallery.com.

8 bottoms up

Brys Estate’s Spiked Hot Cider (& Hot New Trail!)

Per the governor’s order, tasting rooms are closed to indoor wine and food service through Jan. 15, but that doesn’t mean Brys Estate’s gorgeous Old Mission Peninsula property — or its inspired libations — are off-limits. Just one day after Christmas, the inventive estate crew opened a new winter trail on Brys’ 111 snowy acres (open to the public only during normal business hours, 11am–5pm daily).

Whether you hike, snowshoe, or XC ski the easy mile-long vineyard loop or add on the additional 1/2 mile through Brys’ snowy wooded valleys and sleeping lavender fields, you can enhance your trek with a cup of your favorite Brys wine ($8–$11) or our new favorite, their trailside Spiked Hot Cider ($8), made with the estate’s own Estate Dry Riesling, apple cider, brown sugar, and mulling spices.

Want to go warmer and longer? Add a Brys insulated tumbler, on sale for $7, and a Cheese & Charcuterie box ($15), then sit yourself down at one of their new outdoor tabletop firepits and make a chill afternoon of it. Find Brys Estate at 3309 Blue Water Rd., in Traverse City.

(231) 223-9303, www.brysestate.com

Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 5

BAGELS HAND-CRAFTED

NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS

TINY HOUSES AND BIG RAISES

O N LY A T Y O U R N E I G H B O R H O O D B I G A P P L E B A G E L S ®

spectator

by Stephen Tuttle Let's start by assuming 2021 will be better.

The mysteries of local government, however, will remain the same.

1133 S. Airport Rd. W., Traverse City • (231) 929-9866 www.bigapplebagels.com

WIFI

231.946.8822 MANISTEE AND TRAVERSE CITY LOCATIONS Diabetic Wound Care Management Sports Injuries Ankle Replacements Dr Jeffrey S Weber, DPM, Fellowship Trained Surgeon Dr Randy G Hartman, DPM, Board Certified www.BirchTreeFootandAnkle.com

ENROLLMENT NOW OPEN FOR 2021/22 SCHOOL YEAR

The Traverse City City Commission and their overlords at the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) continue their obsession with eliminating downtown parking and increasing population density in the same area. Their latest foray is multi-family housing with no parking and little singlefamily homes on little residential lots, all in the elusive quest for affordable housing.

One commission member said they were hoping to attract the “missing middle,” perhaps having surrendered the fantasy of housing lower-income folks. But if income levels are the target, they're seeking the wrong “middle.” The demographic we're missing downtown, and elsewhere, is agerelated, not financial.

    

downtown Traverse City PreK-6th grade Small Class Sizes Expansive Outdoor Learning Campus Upgraded Technology BATA Bus stop on Route 16

6 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

CALL US FOR A

TOUR TODAY! 231-252-0225

There are other parts of the city where people can live. But when was the last time we had a discussion about or promoted housing options in the Orchard Heights, Oak Park, Indian Woods, Traverse Heights, or any other neighborhoods? Not everybody, or even most people, move to northern Michigan for the dynamic urban lifestyle. They might like some trees, a yard for the kids, maybe even some birds that are neither seagulls nor pigeons.

Downtown is not the only housing game in town. It's just the only one a majority of our current city commissioners wants to play.

Meanwhile, the Grand Traverse County County Board, a typically parsimonious group, has become unusually generous to four county employees. And themselves.

Downtown is not the only housing game in town.

It's just the only one a majority of our current city commissioners wants to play.

Traverse City's population is aging without being replaced by young families with children. It's a significant enough trend; we are out of step with the rest of the state and the country.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2019, about 18 percent of Traverse City's population is under 18, and more than 21 percent is 65 or older. Statewide, about 21 percent are under 18. Nationally, the figure eases up to 22 percent. And the state and national figures for the 65 and older demographic are just under 18 percent and 16.5 percent respectively. In short, we have fewer young people and more older people.

That's a trend that is not good on many levels: schools, business startups, young entrepreneurs, taxes ... most everything is impacted when the population skews older and older. So, what we need are young families.

 Tuition free, public school located 10 miles from

subsidies from taxpayers for both the builders and tenants.

The DDA and City Commission would have us believe the key is downtown and that the objects of our ardor will be keen to move their young families into a tiny house on a tiny lot or into a multi-story apartment building ... with no car. What fun for the children.

Downtown Traverse City is the DDA's only job, so their advocacy for more and more is understandable. After all, they realize a direct financial benefit from more downtown development through their tax increment financing (TIF) districts.

But downtown is not the only job of the City Commission. Yes, downtown is the economic driver for the city, so we all understand it's a priority. But it also has the most expensive real estate, so any belowmarket-rate housing will require significant

They recently approved significant raises for the county administrator, county clerk, HR director, and IT director. They didn't get around to anybody else because they “ran out of time.” Then they gave themselves a tidy little 60 percent raise from about $7,000 annually to $12,000 annually. (They even found money to fund a newly created PR position but none for a new patrol deputy, the 16th year in a row with no additional deputies on the road.)

Commissioners Betsey Coffia and Bryce Hundley voted against all the raises, and they were right in their opposition – the symbolism here stinks.

This is not to suggest the employees so rewarded have not done an outstanding job and did not deserve the pay bump.

They’ve had an unusually challenging year to negotiate. But it's been no less challenging for county employees who are not at the top of the pay scale who do the daily work, including first responders, and who might receive a tiny pay raise, if any.

The argument made by the board — that they had to reward those receiving the raises or risk those folks going elsewhere for employment that promised more money — is specious. If they were going to leave for more money, why didn't they already do that when they were being “underpaid?”

The board's self-serving increase is a bit different. If the increase was truly justified – they also make a $35 per diem for any meeting they have to attend – it should have applied to the board next elected, not the current members. The rest of us don't get to give ourselves a big raise, and neither should they.

Mocktail Challenge 4 cheers for making a month without alcohol easy

By Lynda Wheatley Michigan sure is making “Dry January” easier this year, eh? The annual tradition in which the tough and puffy among us swear off alcohol after so much holiday-induced imbibing, this year’s detox time poses less temptation than usual. With our beloved bars, restaurants, and indoor tasting rooms closed until at least Jan. 15, staying in and drinking clean should be a cinch. If you’re partaking in less partying this month or simply looking to support your brain and bod with more beneficial nutrients in the New Year, these four recipes will give you a healthy and tasty boost. Cheers!

Ginger Kombucha Mule

Kombucha Mocktails are a fantastic choice for anyone choosing an alternative to alcohol. We call this the booch-over-booze choice! Kombucha has all the fizz you could need to create an exciting drink at home for friends and family. Kombucha's unique tang and health benefits provide a win-win for your tastebuds and your wellness. Enjoy probiotic health benefits and digestive enzymes in this delicious ginger mule.

— Courtney K. Lorenz, founder & idealist of Cultured Kombucha, Traverse City

Ingredients • 4 thick cucumber slices (plus additional for garnish) • 4 large basil leaves (plus additional for garnish) • 4 thin slices fresh ginger • Juice of 2 limes • 16 ounces Cultured Kombucha Genuine Ginger kombucha • ½ cup sparkling water (e.g., Waterloo, LaCroix, San Pelligrino) • Ice cubes (about 2–3 cups) Instructions Place cucumbers and basil leaves in the bottom of two copper mugs. Use the handle of a wooden spoon or a cocktail muddler to gently muddle together the cucumber, basil, and ginger. Divide the lime juice between two mugs and fill each ¾ full with ice. Add kombucha, the top off with sparking water. Stir gently. Garnish with additional basil and cucumber slices if desired.

Cranberry Apple Fus-tini

This recipe, a riff on a cocktail created by Fustini’s Petoskey store manager, Charlene Hunt, simply swaps the original recipe’s call for a single ounce vodka with a third ounce of sparkling water. Thanks to the drink’s blend of sweet and tart juices with Fustini’s balsamic and agrodolce — a combo of sour (“agro”) and sweet (“dolce”) made by reducing specialty vinegar and pure cane syrup or agave — its flavor remains brilliant, robust, and wanting for nothing.

— Denise Walburg, director of corporate marketing, Fustini’s Oils & Vinegars Instructions • 2 ounces apple juice • 2 ounces cranberry juice • 3 ounces of sparkling water • 1 ounce Fustini's Ginger and Honey balsamic • 1 ounce Fustini's Ginger Lime agrodolce

Elderberry Spritzer

An immune-supporting mocktail that’s delicious, refreshing, and good for your health (elderberry berries and flowers boast antioxidants and vitamins shown to tame inflammation, lessen stress, and help prevent and ease cold and flu symptoms), this crisp, lightly sweetened, and refreshing drink is loved by kids and adults alike. Our kids refer to it as their kiddie cocktail; I call it my mom beer.

— Sarah Wallstrom, owner, TC Elderberry Ingredients • 1–2 ounces TC Elderberry Syrup • 4 ounces San Pelligrino’s Dark Morello Cherry and Pomegranate sparkling mineral water • Twist of lemon or orange peel Instructions Fill tall glass ¾ full with ice. Slowly drizzle elderberry syrup over ice, then pour in mineral water. Stir until blended. Garnish with citrus twist if desired.

Twisted up in Blue

This is a take on a gin–based drink we currently feature on our menu. When working on new cocktail ideas, we often start with a Michigan fruit and herb, then work from there. The balsamic gives it a hint of interest where the gin would be without leaning all the way into a shrub. Even with the tonic, the drink clocks in at under 40 calories and is a nice option when you are taking a break from alcohol.

— Shana Minish, co-owner and resident cocktail maven, Terrain restaurant, Bellaire Ingredients • 12 blueberries • 1 large basil leaf, torn into pieces • 3 dashes bitters (We like orange or cherry bitters, but experiment with what you have!)

•.50 tsp lemon juice •.50 tsp white balsamic vinegar • 3 oz tonic water or club soda Instructions Into a tall glass, put blueberries, basil leaf pieces, bitters, and then muddle to break up the blueberries. Next, add lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar, and tonic water. (We like the Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic, but any tonic works. You can also sub in club soda here, but be warned: It will make for a less complex drink.) Top with ice, add a straw, and enjoy!

Instructions Pour apple juice, cranberry juice, water, balsamic, and agrodolce into a pitcher and stir to combine. Partially fill two 8-ounce glasses with ice (cube or crushed). Pour mixture into glasses.

Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 7

www.boardmanfp.com

RETIREMENT IS ALL ABOUT INCOME

For high income and tax benefits, purchase a rail road tank car.

WE TAKE BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD, PRIORITY HEALTH, MEDICAID

Your car will be leased to a food company IN BUSINESS FOR 74 YEARS! Tank cars cost $10,250 and PAY $2,840 per year

SERVICES

Same Day Appointments Available Supply and 131 - 20 Min from TC Veteran Owned & Operated with Primary Care & Emergency Response Experience

Marlin Schmidt - marlin.schmidt@att.net 800-842-5317 OR 574-217-0878

+ + + +

Sports Physicals Flu Shots COVID Testing All Insurances Accepted

s s e r p x e north

NORTHE

RN

4713 Pine St. SW, South Boardman, MI, 49680

DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR DOOR.

ernex

press

nort

WWW.NORTHERNEXPRESS.COM/SUBSCRIPTIONS/ORDER/

F oo K n o w s d aughli iEs

Fred L

You In

side N

MC ’s

n Tak

Culin

es

ary

NORTH

t!

Whe re DIne Should I Ton IghT ?

He Y re’s W

our h Che Favor i teat F At H eats om e

l Poeh

lman

Photog

raphy

NORTH

ERN

graphy

an Photo

l Poehlm

Michae

Michae

northe

rnexpr

ess.co

m

NORTH

ERN

NORTHER

N

s s e r p x e express r e restau p r u r Fred anTours me m e u d i s u Ea g Food

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

8 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

.com

H IG A N E R N M IC

’S W E E K

LY • ju n

e 13

hern

expr

ess.c

om

9, 201 - ju n e 1

26 6 Vol.

No. 24

Ro

trippad in’

For

20

ur treprene Serial En GE 18 y PA Troy Dail

PLUS

& Fall Summer dar n le a C Race

PAGE 30

Music Outdoor er Lon All Summ - ju n e 17

• JU n e 11 Northern Express Weekly • oct 19, W EE K LY • 17 IG A N ’S2020 ER N M IC H

EatE VisitriEs ed

N OR TH

, 20 18 •

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? opinion Coping Seattle dad and self-described travel enthusiast Steve Simao attracted a following after his daughter, Annisa, called him out on her TikTok account for his purchase of a pair of first-class leather seats taken from a Delta MD90 Jetliner, complete with an air safety card. Simao, who is vice president of sales at Windstar Cruises, found the seats on eBay in November, reported The Washington Post, and has had fun scratching his itch to travel with them ever since, sending his daughter videos of her mother "bringing food to the (tray) table and him just sitting there enjoying it," Annisa said. Delta CEO Ed Bastian has taken notice and given the three Simaos round-trip, first-class tickets to anywhere in the United States. Hawaii is high on their list.

Florida A woman who would not leave a St. Petersburg, Florida, Mobil gas station was arrested for trespassing on Oct. 14, The Smoking Gun reported. Melinda Lynn Guerrero, 33, was also charged with providing a false name to law enforcement after she repeatedly said her name was "My butt just farted." Officers were familiar with Guerrero from a series of arrests over several years, and her last name is tattooed on her back. They noted she may have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Creme de la Weird Kazakh bodybuilder, actor and selfdescribed "sexy maniac" Yuri Tolochko announced his marriage to his beloved, a sex doll named Margo, on Instagram on Nov. 25 and shared with his followers their wedding video, in which the joyous couple, wearing a tuxedo and a full-length wedding dress, exchange vows and welcome friends and loved ones to a reception after the ceremony, The Sun reported.

The groom identifies himself as pansexual and able to fall in love with "a character, an image, a soul," and said the two became engaged a year ago, after he rescued her from some unwanted attention in a nightclub. "Couples need to talk less and connect more," Tolochko said. "Margo and I realized that it takes more than words to have a conversation."

A 2020 Metaphor An Amazon delivery driver in Nuthall, Nottingham, England, is out of a job after Sharon Smith, 53, discovered him defecating in her back garden in late July. Smith said she saw the man run toward her garden and went to investigate. "I asked what the heck he was doing," Smith told Metro News, "and he just remained pooing whilst asking me what my problem was -- the cheek of it." The driver told police he wasn't feeling well and was desperate, and he didn't realize he was in a private garden. Smith agreed to not press charges as long as he cleaned up the mess and his employer was informed; Amazon promised a gift voucher as a goodwill gesture.

Revenge An unnamed man in Cairns, North Queensland, Australia, posted notices offering a $100 prize to the person able to best impersonate Chewbacca from "Star Wars," but the contest turned out to be a hoax designed to harass the woman who dumped him. The posters listed the woman's

phone number and invited contestants to call and deliver their best Chewbacca roar.

The woman, identified only as Jessica, told 9News: "I'm getting phone calls at really strange hours of the night. ... I thought it was quite funny, actually, a good joke." However, she drew the line when the ex abandoned his car, without tires, in the driveway of her home, blocking her in. "The police ... are going to do something about it," she said.

Must-See TV Police in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, arrested Robert Lee Noye, 52, on Feb. 17 and charged him with first-degree harassment and false imprisonment after his victim told them Noye kidnapped her and forced her to watch the 1977 historical miniseries "Roots" "so she could better understand her racism," The Gazette reported. He allegedly told her if she did not sit for the entire nine-hour series about slavery, he would "kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago."

Pairs With a Nice Chianti The Design Museum in London has included a "DIY meal kit" featuring steaks that could be grown from a diner's own human cells among the nominees in its Beazley Designs of the Year exhibit. Developers of the Ouroboros Steak envision that an individual will be able to harvest cells from their own cheek and feed them with serum derived from donated blood that has expired, Dezeen reported. After about three months, the steaks would be fully grown. "People think that eating oneself is cannibalism, which technically this is not," said Grace Knight, one of the designers. Researcher Orkan Telhan added, "Our design is scientifically and economically feasible but also ironic in many ways," he added.

Frontiers of Farming Cockroach farms are not new in China, where the bugs have long been used in Chinese medicine, but a new facility near the eastern city of Jinan is gaining attention as a way to deal with food waste while producing organic protein supplements for animal feeds. In four industrial-sized hangars, Australia's ABC News reported, rows of shelves are filled with food waste collected from restaurants through an elaborate system of pipes. A moat filled with roach-eating fish surrounds each building to keep the roaches from escaping. "In total there are 1 billion cockroaches," farm manager Yin Diansong said. "Every day they can eat 50 tonnes of kitchen waste." Said project director Li Yanrong, "If we can farm cockroaches on a large scale, we can provide protein that benefits the entire ecological cycle."

Scheme Residents in the upscale neighborhoods of Woodway and Edmonds, Washington, have been visited recently by people carrying official-looking documents who knock on doors, tell homeowners they own the property and "they're there to repossess the home and want the people to vacate the premises," Edmonds police Sgt. Josh McClure told KIRO. The group identifies itself as Moorish Sovereign Citizens, McClure said, who "believe that they own all of the land between Alaska and Argentina." So far, the people have cooperated with police and left after being told they are trespassing.

BY tom gutowski Joe Biden is right to call for unity and healing.

But how is that to be accomplished? Just returning to “normal” won’t do it. We’ll all be happier when we have a president who behaves like an adult, but that isn’t sufficient. After all, what used to pass for normal is what produced the deep division we have now.

A willingness to compromise is important and even necessary, but by itself that’s also of limited effectiveness. For starters, there can be no compromise on what constitutes reality.

COVID-19 and global warming are real, not hoaxes. We can debate what to do about them,

should be similarly dealt with, though frankly, I’m not sanguine. The independence of the Department of Justice must be protected so that no future president can choose who to prosecute, or treat the department like it’s his private law firm. It should be be made impossible for a president to fire an Inspector General without cause. And — though this may require a change to the Constitution — the pardon power should be either abolished or severely restricted.

There must also be no “big lies.” Think Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Iran Contra, WMDs,

The next four years must include no insider trading, egregious conflicts of interest, violations of the Hatch Act or the Emoluments Clause, or sexual impropriety. If any hint of such a scandal arises in the executive branch, Biden must deal with it openly, honestly, and quickly. but not whether they exist. And there’s no evidence of significant fraud in November’s election. Those still claiming otherwise are either misinformed, lying for political purposes, or flat-out delusional. More than 50 election-related suits filed by Trump and the GOP have been withdrawn or tossed out of court. Biden and Harris won. It’s over.

Nor can we compromise on matters of basic decency. We cannot tolerate a system that allows people to die because they can’t afford medical care. It’s wrong to systematically separate infants and toddlers from their parents. QAnon is rubbish and must be called out as such. We cannot sit idly by while rogue cops use grossly excessive force, unnecessarily harming and even killing people — especially, but not exclusively, people of color. And it’s wrong that millions of Americans working full time don’t earn enough to pay for basic food, clothing, and shelter.

And compromise requires cooperation. If the GOP retains control of the Senate (the outcome of the Georgia special elections is unknown as I write this), Mitch McConnell will be able to continue blocking any legislation he doesn’t like. In the House of Representatives, the Problem Solvers Caucus — a 50-member bipartisan group consisting of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans — offers some hope. The elimination or reduction of gerrymandering would help, too.

Representatives from gerrymandered districts have little reason to do anything other than play to their base, which tends to turn politics into partisan theater. But Republican victories in state legislative races make it unlikely that we’ll see much of an improvement in this area.

What, then, will it take to heal America?

In order for the healing to begin, two major issues must be addressed: restoration of ethics in government and the pursuit of policies that improve the lives of working families.

The next four years must include no insider trading, egregious conflicts of interest, violations of the Hatch Act or the Emoluments Clause, or sexual impropriety. If any hint of such a scandal arises in the executive branch, Biden must deal with it openly, honestly, and quickly. If one were to arise in Congress, it

Trump’s claim that he won a massive victory in November, etc. The problem with this rule, of course, is that in politics, one party often claims folks in the other party have done something truly awful and are lying to conceal it. If no scandal exists, it seems one must be invented for political purposes.

The best we can hope for is that the Biden administration will resist letting the inevitable spin turn into outright dishonesty, and that that the press will hold government officials and politicians accountable, both for actual misdeeds — and for false allegations of such. It would also help to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, so we’d all get some semblance of balanced information no matter what TV channel we watch or what radio station we listen to.

Regarding policy, my wish list includes more COVID relief targeted to those who desperately need it, an infrastructure bill, reduced drug prices, improved access to healthcare, better school funding, a higher minimum wage, a stronger social safety net, and in rural areas, better support for family farming, greater access to broadband, and support for critical care hospitals. And I’d like to see these things paid for without raising taxes on the middle class. Instead, Congress should raise the marginal tax rate for high earners, raise the effective corporate tax rate so companies like Amazon can’t get away with paying zero tax, reduce corporate welfare, and squeeze some of the waste and excess out of the Pentagon’s budget. In fact, we need way more efficiency and accountability in government spending across the board.

Details aside, if the Biden administration vigorously addresses these kinds of things, then what political consultants call “messaging” should consist of merely explaining how these policies are in tune with basic shared values like honesty, fairness, decency, and equality of opportunity. Instead of competing ideological manifestos, we need a new unifying narrative about an ongoing tangible effort by a trustworthy government to improve the lot of all Americans.

Tom Gutowski earned degrees in economics and history before entering the insurance industry, from which he retired a few years ago.

Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 9

A plane shown flying offshore several hundred feet away, after either the Pentagon or the Strategic Air Command realized the risk of flying directly overhead of Big Rock Point.

(Courtesy Charlevoix Historical Society.)

The Age of Flying Fortresses Over Northern Michigan Fifty years ago this week, a terrible aviation tragedy occurred over Little Traverse Bay when a B-52 bomber with nine men onboard suddenly crashed into Lake Michigan.

By Patrick Sullivan There was a time when the roar of a B-52 in the skies around Little Traverse Bay was a regular occurrence. Suddenly, a flying fortress designed to carry nuclear warheads would pass overhead with a rumble that stirred people to their bones.

The massive warplanes routinely flew training missions over northern Lake Michigan, and the military used the newly built Big Rock Point nuclear power plant, in Charlevoix, as a target in simulated bombing training.

The odds of one of these behemoths crashing – much less crashing into Big Rock, causing a nuclear disaster – might have seemed scant until Jan. 7, 1971, when a B-52 Model C did crash into Little Traverse Bay, with nine men aboard, just five miles from and moments before the plane was due to fly directly over the nuclear power plant.

UNLIKELY THINGS OVERHEAD When, in the early 1970s, Richard Wiles

moved to Petoskey to take a job teaching high school history, the planes were a part of life in northern Michigan and took some getting used to.

The B-52 Stratofortress warplanes, massive bombers with four jet engines under each wing, would conduct regular low-altitude training missions that took them over Little Traverse Bay and the surrounding countryside at altitudes of under 700 feet.

Driving between Petoskey and Charlevoix one day, Wiles said one of the planes crossed over the highway as it followed its training route just as he drove by.

“You can’t fathom what it must be like to have a B-52 over your car at 300 feet,” said Wiles, who in retirement has become an avid local historian.

The reason the planes flew so low was because of a development that took place a decade earlier in the Cold War. The B-52s were designed and built for high-altitude missions – they were capable of delivering bombs from 50,000-feet, high enough to avoid being shot

10 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

down or tracked by enemy radar – but that was no longer an option.

In 1960, the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command had to rethink its strategy when the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 spy plane flying over its territory at 60,000 feet. The stopgap solution was to develop plans to fly the B-52s low, out of sight of the radar.

Unfortunately, Wiles said, the planes were never designed for low-altitude flight, and by 1970, the country’s fleet of B-52 had reached retirement age.

Nonetheless, use of the aging planes didn’t slow down as they were needed to conduct low-level bombing missions to prepare pilots and flight crews in the event the Cold War ever turn hot and the United States needed to launch a nuclear attack.

“All of a sudden these things were obsolete unless they could fly at 500 or less, and they were not made to fly at low altitude,” Wiles said.

The military began using northern Michigan as warplane training ground in the

early 1960s, when USAFSAC established the Bay Shore radar bomb scoring site just outside of Petoskey. The planes used radio signals in order to conduct simulated bombing runs so that they could be scored for accuracy. One of the simulated bomb targets was Big Rock Point, not far from the radar station.

A FATEFUL DAY At just before 2pm on Jan. 7, 1971, an ill-fated and unnamed B-52 and its crew of nine took off from Westover Air Force Base just outside Springfield, Mass. and the plane headed northwest.

Four and a half hours later, after the crew had reached Lake Michigan and had successfully completed three of four planned simulated bombing missions, staff at the radar station in Bay Shore lost contact with the plane as it was preparing to complete its final training mission. Communication, which during training exercises like this had to be constant, completely shut off.

This should have been a disturbing

A view of the Big Rock plant from the bomb doors of a B-52. (Courtesy Charlevoix Historical Society.)

development, but the plane’s commander, Lt. Col. William B. Lemmon, had recently undergone a flight evaluation and passed with excellent scores and was determined to be the kind of pilot any crew could depend on.

The weather was wintery in northern Michigan that evening but otherwise unremarkable, Wiles said. The skies were cloudy but not stormy.

Nonetheless, at 6:30pm that dark evening, the sky suddenly lit up as if the sun suddenly decided to make a reappearance.

“People who heard it said it was just the most deafening roar and they looked up and they thought the sun was rising in the west,” Wiles said. “It was a deafening boom heard all around the bay. A lot of people thought the nuclear plant had been hit or that it had just exploded.”

David Miles, a Charlevoix native and the director of the Charlevoix Historical Society, said he was traveling in Europe in 1971, but he said he talked to a man several years ago who witnessed the explosion light up the sky and who was still astonished by what he saw. “It lit up the sky and he wondered ‘What on earth?’ for the rest of the day,” Miles said in an email.

“I was not living in Charlevoix at the time, but I remember later being told of the shock and horror that the town experienced since the plane blew up only a few miles from town,” Miles said. “Charlevoix of course received international news coverage, and the phone wires were burning for days from people all over the country, both those wondering ‘are you okay?’ and those wanting more information.”

A HORRIBLE LOSS OF LIFE The plane crash was a sudden event – one moment the B-52 was flying toward Big Rock Point, and the next, it had crashed into Lake Michigan – and it brought with it an incredible explosion that lit up the dark, winter sky.

There was no time for the crew to send out a distress signal; the violence of the crash was so immense that no human remains were ever recovered. Tens of thousands of gallons of

jet fuel exploded as the massive plane crashed into the water.

The U.S. Coast Guard launched the first recovery effort over the night the crash, using boats and helicopters to search Little Traverse Bay and its shores. Little debris was recovered.

That was followed by more extensive searches in the coming days by various military units who determined that the wreckage area spanned 2,400 yards by 1,600 yards. The crash site was six miles from Bay Shore and five miles north of Big Rock Point.

As January progressed, the winter weather turned more severe and search efforts were put off until May. Wiles said that the Air Force initially told the families of the lost crew that pilot error had been the cause of the crash, but that once wreckage could be recovered from the lake in the spring and summer, a careful examination of the debris caused a reconsideration of that initial conclusion.

The official cause of the crash was deemed to be metal fatigue on the aging airplane which caused the B-52’s left wing to break off without warning midflight.

“For training, they overused the planes,” Wiles said. “The left wing just popped right off.”

Upon the 40th anniversary of the crash, Wiles thoroughly researched the tragedy and composed a white paper for the Petoskey Public Library; he said he managed to track down family members of five or six of the crew members. Wiles said many of them had not heard that the cause of the crash had been changed from pilot error to metal fatigue.

For each of the crew members and their families, Wiles said, the tragedy was compounded by the fact that each of the lost had risked their lives in the Vietnam war and survived, only to be lost while training at home.

“The worst part was, these nice guys had all gotten back from Vietnam, from the hot war, only do die in a cold war,” Wiles said.

A historical marker near the beach northeast of Charlevoix just off US-31 memorializes the men who were lost on that day.

The United States Air Force Strategic Air Command’s radar scoring station at Bay Shore, south of Petoskey. The facility no longer exists. (Courtesy Charlevoix Historical Society.)

THE AGE OF SONIC BOOMS Northern Michigan had an ambivalent relationship with the radar scoring station and the thousands (Miles estimates over 10,000, over the course of the program’s existence) of roaring training flights it brought to the region’ skies. The area’s conservative politics tended to support the military, especially at the height of the Cold War, and the region’s economy was boosted by the SAC outpost that brought skilled jobs to an economy that often struggled.

But there were downsides.

Miles said that for years, many fighter planes much smaller than the B-52s, such as supersonic jets, also took part in the training exercises. When some of those missions were completed over the coast of Charlevoix, some hotdog pilots took the opportunity, every once in a while, to have some fun over Lake Michigan. Sonic booms became a regular occurrence.

While Miles was touring Europe in the early 1970s, his mother sent him a letter once complaining of the commotion that resulted.

“I received one that she had been writing when one of these overflights shook the house to its foundations. The stationery showed a heavy ballpoint line going off the edge of the page, with the notation next to it ‘damn jets!’”

Miles wrote. “The impact of those sound waves was so powerful that they cracked downtown store windows.”

After the terrible crash of Jan. 7, 1971, the training flights continued for 13 years, though Miles said military brass put an end to the sonic booms following bad publicity.

Not only were residents bothered by the sonic booms, but there was also concern, even before the crash, over the devastation that would be caused should one of the planes crash into the Big Rock nuclear plant. A Dec. 6, 1967 article in the Charlevoix Courier, headlined “'Buzzing’ of Jet Liners Irks Big Rock Employees,” described the anxiety workers at the power plant experienced as a result of the frequent, low-flying bomber raids over their nuclear facility.

After the January 1971 event, despite the now very real (though statistically unlikely) risk that a training mission could result in a nuclear catastrophe if a military plane crashed into Big Rock, the flights continued, nonetheless. At first, Wiles said, the mood in northern Michigan soured against the training exercises, but that concern slowly faded away.

“The Air Force threatened to pull out and economics got in the way, and people shut up,” Wiles said. “Economics overruled common sense. And they kept flying for another 13 years.”

REMEMBERING THE LOST AIRMEN The men who died when a B-52 Model C bomber aircraft crashed into Little Traverse Bay on Jan. 7, 1971: • Lt. Col. William Lemmon, 39, pilot • 1st Lt. Douglas Bachman, 35, copilot • Maj. John Simonfy Jr., 39, navigator instructor • Maj. Donald F. Rosseau, 37, electronic warfare officer • Maj. Gerald W. Black, 32, navigator • Capt. John Weaver, 27, navigator • Capt. Joel Hirsch, 26, electronic warfare officer • 1st Lt. Dennis Ferguson, 25, navigator • Tech. Sgt. Gerry M. Achey, 33, gunner

Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 11

NEW YEAR,

NEW YOU Bring on your best in 2021

It won’t be hard to top 2020, a year that we’ll remember for all that it wasn’t and couldn’t safely be. So while you probably could do nothing but sit on the couch and wait for the calendar to plod toward an almost-certainly better tomorrow, why not invest the singular time you have now — near empty of travel, social commitments, and extended family gatherings — on No. 1: you. We tapped mind, body, spirit, and home experts around the region for 10 transformative resolutions to make for new you in the new (and sure-to-be-greatly improved) year. Here’s what they suggested:

Resolution: Remember who you are.

Modern life has many benefits, but it's also not terribly conducive to remembering who you really are: a powerful, brilliantly bright, lovely, magic thing. In a world designed to help you forget, find something every day that makes you remember — paint badly, sing while you cook, light a candle, feed the squirrels.

— Sarah Bernstein of Sarah and Source tarot reading and teaching, Traverse City Resolution: Instead of selecting a specific “diet,” look at behavior change.

It is impossible to follow a diet with breakfast, lunch, and dinner if there is currently no time in the morning for breakfast. In this situation, look at WHY there is no time for breakfast. Do you need easier breakfasts? To determine how to make time

12 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

for breakfast? To come up with more graband-go options? Address behaviors instead of forcing yourself to fit the “diet.”

— Amanda Evans MS, RDN, CDCES, registered dietitian, diabetes specialist and nutrition coach at Amanda Evans Nutrition Consulting, Charlevoix Resolution: Live more mindfully.

Mindfulness can reduce stress, increase focus and help regulate your emotions. How? Stop and notice five things you can see, four you can feel, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, one thing you can taste.

Next, pay attention to your breath. Is it fast, slow, deep or shallow? See if you can make your inhales a little deeper and exhales a little longer.

— Cathy Fitzgerald and Kay Epple, owners of Just Bee Yoga + Well-being, Traverse City

GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE

CANDY CHAMBERLAIN

4 Color: PMS 583 G PMS 7459 PMS 7462 PMS 7413

Licensed massage therapist with over 20 years experience

www.positivelifestylechanges.net • 231.929.7250

2 Color: PMS 7459 PMS 7462

All COVID Safety Practices • 887 Lynch Drive, Traverse City

Resolution: Do the Thing!

You know that thing you’ve been waiting to do? DO IT! Don’t wait. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s to go for it when you can, so look at your bucket list and commit to crossing something off of it in 2021. Why wait? While you’re at it, be sure to tell someone about your plans. Make it someone who will cheer you on, but also call you on your excuses … or even better, someone who will join in. That way, you’re not alone, and you can celebrate your success together!

— Anne Bonney, professional speaker and courage ignitor, YourChangeSpeaker.com Resolution: Take 10 for you.

The stress of COVID-19 weighs on everyone: Kids can’t go to school. Parents are working from home — or maybe not working.

A positive attitude can be a challenge. So, before lashing out at your kids, your partner, or yourself, take 10 for you: Breathe deeply. Take a walk. Watch a funny video. Turn up the music and dance. Meditate. Ten minutes can save the day. And your sanity.

— Mary Jo Zazueta, development director, Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center Resolution: Start a gratitude journal.

Grab a notebook and pen and spend 5 to 10 minutes a day being grateful for what you have, who you are, and the awesome things you accomplished today! Focusing on positive feelings produces positive results and will help create the momentum and success you seek in 2021!

Bonus for Northern Express readers: To receive my FREE digital journal, please email me at kjersti@mylifehealthcoach. com, my gift to you.

— Kjersti Kontio, certified life & health coach, owner at My Life Health Coach LLC, Harbor Springs

Resolution: Create a Sadhana Old habits can be hard to break without looking inward. “Sadhana” is Sanskrit for personal practice. It is a practice of selfdiscipline, and through direct experience, leads to an expansion of awareness and selftransformation. The daily practice can be anything from yoga, to chanting mantra, to

meditating, just as long as it is consistent and heartfelt.

The byproducts of such a practice are emotional regulation, inner-composure, and an experience of calm. There is truly no more valuable thing we can give to ourselves.

How to create a Sadhana: • Set an attainable and suitable sadhana (length of practice, time of day, choice of yoga and/or meditation etc.)

• Be patient and gentle with yourself.

• Don’t become disappointed or give up — it is a practice, not perfect!

• If you miss a day, start again and keep up!

— Jessica Merwin, HeartMath mentor, Kundalini yoga teacher, entrepreneur, and owner of New Moon Yoga Studio, Traverse City

WE BUY

RECORDS

EVERY DAY 231-947-3169

Greyscale: K 100% / K

Buying Collections & Equipment

1015 Hannah Ave. Traverse City

Fonts: Gotham Black / Century Expanded

231-947-3169 • RPMRecords.net

Resolution: Prioritize your people so they feel it.

In a culture and community expecting your time and talents, intentionally put your personal cheerleaders first. You know they’ll wait in line for you, however, faith, family, and dear friends shouldn’t have to take a number.

Do long work hours or distance separate you from your favorite people? If you read, share book titles. Enjoy dialogue that might simply be a lunch-hour text emoji after finishing chapter seven. Treasured conversations will deepen a personal connection you both deserve.

— Wendy Nienhouse, co-founder of Agevix Exercise Therapy, host of BoomerAbility on WTCM NewsTalk 580 AM, Traverse City Resolution: Make your bedroom a retreat; eliminate its clutter.

Questions to ask: What stays and what goes? Do I love it, use it, need it, or does it need to live somewhere else? Donate, sell, or relocate items to another room. Achieve this by breaking down the job into small tasks.

— Beth Ruck, owner of Conquering Clutter, Cadillac Resolution: Shift your attention.

Being present is a shift of attention.

Meditation and mindfulness shift attention from a busy mind to a tool. Eventually this allows us to recognize the part of us that is already in the present. Practice — eyes opened and closed — to strengthen your ability to be present in life.

— Rodasi Campbell, monk, priestess, mentor, and author of “Meditation for Badassery,” Traverse City

Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 13

jan 02

saturday PIANIST PETER

BERGEN PRESENTS: THREE VIGNETTES FOR CHRISTMAS: This local pianist has prepared a recording of his talent in the form of three vignettes. Tradition. Home.

Goodwill. Enjoy at your leisure throughout the holiday season. Free. tadl.org/ christmasmusic

---------------------NUTCRACKER 2020: REIMAGINED UP NORTH: Purchase a virtual ticket on Anywhere Seat to stream directly to your home devices. You can stream the performance for $25 for the whole family. crookedtreeartscenter.anywhereseat. com/channel.php

jan 03

sunday NUTCRACKER 2020: RE-

jan 04

monday NUTCRACKER

jan 05

IMAGINED UP NORTH: (See Sat., Jan. 2)

2020: REIMAGINED UP NORTH: (See Sat., Jan. 2)

tuesday AAUW-UPDATES FROM

MSU EPIDEMIOLOGISTS IN TC: 5:30pm.

Held via Zoom. AAUW Traverse City Area Branch will welcome back Kelly Hirko, PhD & Jean Kerver, PhD, both of MSU’s College of Human Medicine Department of Epidemiology & Munson Medical Center. Kelly will be updating you on a variety of her projects including how telemedicine is really working during the pandemic. Jean will be putting epidemiology & pandemicpreparedness in perspective. Free. us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZclcOmorj4vHN3nmHoyj9ErjABvtYk7c_R-

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

TCNEWTECH PITCH EVENT: 6pm.

Each presenter will be allowed 5 minutes to present their business or new technology & 5 minutes of questions from the audience. The audience, who is made up of technology-minded people, decides which startup will receive the $500 cash prize by voting via text. Watch via the TCNewTech Facebook page or YouTube Channel. eventbrite.com/e/tcnewtech-pitch-event-january-5-2021-tickets-131688805763

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

A LOOK BEHIND ORSON WELLES’ “WAR OF THE WORLDS” BROADCAST: 6:30pm. Presented by Laura Keyes of Historic Voices. Held via Zoom.

Register. Free. charlevoixlibrary.org/ event-detail/a-look-behind-orson-welleswar-of-the-worlds-broadcast/?glm_ event_from=2021-01-05

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

NUTCRACKER 2020: REIMAGINED UP NORTH: (See Sat., Jan. 2)

jan 06

wednesday CALL FOR ENTRIES:

BLACK & WHITE EXHIBIT: Annual Black & White (and a little color) Exhibit for all Michigan artists; black & white media 2D & 3D including photography. Entry dates: Jan. 6-9, 2021. More info & entry form at www.gaylordarts.org or call 989-7323242. Art Center & Gallery, 125 E. Main St., Gaylord. Weds. - Fri., 1-4pm; Sat., 12-2pm. gaylordarts.org

January

02-10

send your dates to: events@traverseticker.com

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

NUTCRACKER 2020: REIMAGINED UP NORTH: (See Sat., Jan. 2)

---------------------LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS DISCUSSION: Noon. “Non-Partisan But Political You Say? What Sets the League of Women Voters Apart from Partisan Politics?” Led by League of Women Voters Leelanau County President Tricia Denton. Contact lwvleelanau@gmail.com for Zoom link participation info. Free. LWVLeelanau.org

jan 07

thursday CALL FOR ENTRIES: BLACK & WHITE EXHIBIT: (See Weds., Jan. 6)

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

NUTCRACKER 2020: REIMAGINED UP NORTH: (See Sat., Jan. 2)

jan 08

friday CALL FOR

ENTRIES: BLACK & WHITE EXHIBIT: (See Weds., Jan. 6)

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

NUTCRACKER 2020: REIMAGINED UP NORTH: (See Sat., Jan. 2)

jan 09

jan saturday JUST BEE YOGA FOR 10 KIDS: 11am, Grand Tra-

verse Area Children’s Garden, behind library, outside, TC. For ages 3-6. Must register & fill out waiver before event. Bring your own yoga mat, blanket or towel. Free. tadl.org/event/just-beeyoga-for-kids-ages-3-6

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

NUTCRACKER 2020: REIMAGINED UP NORTH: (See Sat., Jan. 2)

---------------------DOODLE ART DAY: 1-3pm, Twisted Fish, Cottage Gallery, Elk Rapids. Held the second Sat. of each month. Free. twistedfishgallery.com

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

THIRD COAST SWING: 7:30pm, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Theater, Petoskey. “Louis Armstrong with a French accent,” Third Coast Swing specializes in the styles of gypsy swing, gypsy bossa, bolero, French Musette & more. Only 50 tickets available. crookedtree.org/event/ ctac-petoskey/third-coast-swing-january-9

---------------------CALL FOR ENTRIES: BLACK & WHITE EXHIBIT: (See Weds., Jan. 6)

14 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

Children and adults who are new to snow sports have the chance to try snowshoeing and cross-country skiing for FREE on Winter Trails Day, Sun., Jan. 10 at Crystal Mountain, Thompsonville. Enjoy a free 2-Hour Trail Pass and rentals available from: 1-3pm, 2-4pm and 3-5pm. Trailhead Clinics will be running throughout the afternoon. Advanced reservations are required for cross-country skiing. Call: 888-968-7686, ext. 4000.

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

sunday WINTER TRAILS

DAY: Crystal Mountain, Thompsonville. Children & adults who are new to snow sports have the chance to try snowshoeing & cross-country skiing for FREE. Enjoy a free 2-Hour Trail Pass & rentals available from: 1-3pm, 2-4pm & 3-5pm. Trailhead Clinics will be running throughout the afternoon. Advanced reservations are required for cross-country skiing. Call: 888-968-7686, ext. 4000. crystalmountain.com/event/winter-trails-day

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

NUTCRACKER 2020: REIMAGINED UP NORTH: (See Sat., Jan. 2)

ongoing FRIENDS MITTEN

TREE: Interlochen Public Library. The IPL Friends mitten tree will be up until Jan. 4 & there is still room to add new mittens, gloves, scarves, hats & socks. The donated items are given to local elementary schools. interlochenpubliclibrary.org

---------------------NORTE’S RUN SABADOS: GT Civic Center, TC. A weekly walk or run held on Saturdays. Meet outside the Wheelhouse at 10am, & then split up & hit the track.

WEEKLY ZOOM STORY HOUR: Wednesdays, 11am, with Miss Ann. Presented by Interlochen Public Library.

Meeting ID 876 3279 3456. Pass Code 364283.

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

NORTHERN HOME & COTTAGE 2020 VIRTUAL TOUR: Explore 8 of Up North’s most stunning residences from the comfort of your own home through virtual video documentaries by Eagle Eye Video Production. This donation-only event benefits the Child and Family Services of Northwest Michigan. Suggested donation is $15. Runs through Jan.

---------------------BELLAIRE WINTER FARMERS MARKET: Held on Fridays from 10am-2pm.

Located at both Bee Well & Terrain in downtown Bellaire.

---------------------BOYNE CITY INDOOR FARMERS MARKET: Saturdays, 9am-noon through May 15. City Hall Lobby, Boyne City. petoskeyarea.com/event-detail/boyne-city-indoor-farmers-market-1

---------------------INDOOR FARMERS MARKET: The Village at GT Commons, The Mercato, TC. Saturdays through April, 10am-2pm. thevillagetc.com/indoor-farmers-market-7-2-2-2-2-2

art COMMUNITY-WIDE FACEMASK PROJECT: Presented by the Michigan Legacy Art Park & Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts. Participants are asked to reflect & then decorate a paper-mache mask to express personal stories during the current health crisis. Free masks for anyone participating. Webinars will be held on Dec. 22 & Jan. 5 at 3pm to get ideas on how to decorate masks. Masks must be completed by Jan. 12. The exhibit will run during Feb. in Hardy Hall, Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts, Manistee. ramsdelltheatre.org/facemask

---------------------TOYOTA DREAM CAR USA ART CONTEST: Runs through Jan. Presented by Great Lakes Children’s Museum, Ann Arbor Hands-On, CauseConnect, & Toyota USA. This contest is designed to inspire creativity in youth, ages 4-15, & help them imagine the future of mobility.

A total of nine U.S. winners will be announced during March 2021. These winners will receive cash prizes, ready-toframe digital scans of their drawings, & award certificates. Also, their artwork will be submitted to Japan for consideration in the World Contest, along with the nine top entries from nearly 90 countries. For rules & details, visit www.greatlakeskids. org/toyotadreamcarusa or www.ToyotaDreamCarUSA.com.

---------------------THE COVID 19 WREATH COLLECTION: Dec. 5 - Feb. 21. Presented by Art Rapids. Bring an old or new wreath to the Walk of Art Park, Elk Rapids & attach it to the fence on S. Bayshore Dr. Give some festive bling to a “Pandemic” fence that goes on & on. Take a photo & tag on Instagram or Facebook: #artrapids.

---------------------“DON’T MISS THE BOAT”: Harbor Springs History Museum. Presented by the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society. This exhibit highlights the historic ferries of Little Traverse Bay & features original watercolors & giclees by local artist William Talmadge Hall. Runs through the summer of 2021. Hours: Tues.-Sat., 11am-3pm. harborspringshistory.org/history-museum-exhibits

---------------------“JUST GREAT ART”: Presented by Plein Air Painters of Northwest Michigan. An online exhibit & sale of over 50 works by regional artists. 20% of the proceeds benefit City Opera House. Runs through Jan. crookedtree.smugmug.com/ Traverse-City/Exhibitions-TC/Just-GreatART/Just-Great-ART/i-fNDV67s

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

“KIDS ON COMMUNITY”: Youth artists were invited to submit artwork in response to the theme of “Community.” Fun, thoughtful & creative interpretations by Michigan youth (grades 3 - 12) are included in this online image gallery. Runs Dec. 1, 2020 - June 30, 2021. crookedtree.org/ event/ctac-petoskey-ctac-online/kidscommunity-online-exhibit

---------------------“THE LAMPLIGHTER”: Downtown Manistee, next to Christmas tree. This sculpture created by artists Tyler & Ashley Voorhees was constructed with dozens of antiquated tools & manmade artifacts in a grand gesture to this humble worker of the past. You are invited to pedal the stationary bikes surrounding the sculpture to generate light. “The Lamplighter” symbolizes a collective connection to

spread that light. The exhibition will run from Dec. 4 - Jan. 4. Presented by Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts.

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

GAAC OUTDOOR GALLERY: CALL FOR ENTRIES: The Glen Arbor Arts Center is accepting submissions for its 2021 Outdoor Gallery. The exhibition space is the south & west exterior walls of the GAAC’s building at 6031 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor. Original work by a single artist will be selected by a jury, & exhibited from May 2021 to April 2022. Deadline for submissions is February 25, 2021. Open to all media, the selected work will be eye-catching, compelling, colorful & communicate the spirit of the Glen Arbor Arts Center with fresh originality. The selected exhibitor’s original work will be enlarged & reproduced on five, separate, 5 foot x 5 foot square outdoor panels for one year.

A $500 prize will be awarded to the selected artist. Submissions are online only.

To apply visit GlenArborArt.org & click on ARTIST/Calls For Entry. glenarborart. org/exhibits/current-exhibits

---------------------CHARLEVOIX CIRCLE OF THE ARTS, CHARLEVOIX - ALL MEDIA OPEN CALL TO MICHIGAN ARTISTS: Submit to: re | ART: reject, reflect, refine, remark, a juried fine arts exhibit. Artists are invited to comment visually on the many shifts taking place in our current experience, as change opens a path to rethink, revisit, reunite, recharge, reevaluate, redefine, etc. Juror will award cash prizes. Deadline for entry is Jan. 10 at noon. charlevoixcircle.org/juried-exhibit - CHARLEVOIX CIRCLE MARKET: Charlevoix Circle of Arts hosts its annual Circle mARkeT, Nov. 19 - Jan. 2, featuring over 40 local artists’ & makers’ handmade items, original art & locally produced specialty treats. Open: Mon.-Fri., 11am-4pm; Sat., 11am-3pm; *Wed. & Thurs. mornings from 10-11am are reserved for vulnerable patrons. CharlevoixCircle.org

BECAUSE YOU DESERVE A BURRITO

TRAVERSE CITY

231-929-3200 • 4952 Skyview Ct.

CHARLEVOIX

231-237-0955 • 106 E. Garfield Ave.

www.schulzortho.com

---------------------DENNOS MUSEUM CENTER, NMC, TC: - MATHIAS J. ALTEN: AN AMERICAN ARTIST AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY: The German-born American Impressionist Mathias Joseph Alten, often referred to as the Dean of Michigan painters, is regarded as one of the most celebrated regionalist artists to have worked in the United States. Runs through Jan. 31. dennosmuseum.org/art/upcomingexhibitions/index.html - MICHIGAN MODERN: AN ARCHITECTURAL LEGACY: This exhibit celebrates Michigan’s modern architectural design history from 1928-2012. It is comprised of over 50 photographs by James Haefner primarily for the State Historic Preservation Office as part of their Michigan Modern Project, & featured in the book by State Historic Preservation Officer Brian Conway, titled “Michigan Modern: An Architectural Legacy.” Runs through Jan. 31. dennosmuseum.org/art/ upcoming-exhibitions/index.html

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

HIGHER ART GALLERY, TC - “PERSONAL MYTH, TALES AND ICONS”: Higher Art Gallery, TC. Featuring the work of Ann Willey, TJ Schwartz & Mary Fortuna. Runs Jan. 6 - Feb. 5. higherartgallery.com - OPEN CALL FOR “THOSE WHO TEACH”: Deadline to apply is 1/15/21.

Exhibit featuring the artwork of Michigan’s Visual Art Educators. higherartgallery.com/calls-for-art

Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 15

ATTORNEY RICHARD P. CARROLL Reasonable Rates and Results!

Over 30 Years’ Experience in: Estate Planning Probate Decedent’s Estates Driver’s License Restoration Auto Accident Personal Injury Landlord Tenant Business Organization

310 W. Front Street, Suite 409, Traverse City 231-929-3258 • ricolawplc@gmail.com

!

YOU NK THA

HELP US PROMOTE HEALTHY LIVING

trash guidelines

PLEASE BAG ALL TRASH, especially used/wet tissues, paper towels, diapers, personal hygiene items, cleaning rags and towels.

'

recycling doN TS

Recycling dos

Please DO NOT recycle used paper towels, medical waste supplies, tissues or wet paper cleaning materials.

DO recycle CLEAN & DRY cardboard, plastic, glass, metal and paper.

MORE INFO

www.americanwaste.org 16 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

the ADViCE GOddESS

BY Amy Alkon

Couching Tiger

Cujo’s Diner

Q

Q

A

A

: I’m a woman in my late 20s in a happy, committed relationship. I had the idea of going to a therapist with my boyfriend so we can learn to communicate better, etc.

Friends I’ve told about this see it as a sign of “trouble in paradise.” Is it possible I’m in denial and there’s something wrong between my boyfriend and me?

— Unsettled : Be glad your friends are not in charge of airplane maintenance. It’s annoying when a nonstop flight makes an unscheduled stop -- especially when it involves going down in flames in a cornfield.

We’re given training in how to read, write, and drive, and if you go on YouTube, somebody will teach you how to do magic tricks with your blender. Only in our romantic relationships are we expected to be untrained geniuses.

Unfortunately, this expectation pairs poorly with therapist Albert Ellis’ realism on what it means to be a person (in language he suggested to a client): “I’m a human, fallible being who screwed up and may screw up in the future because (of) my fallibility.”

So, though there’s a tendency to see therapy (for individuals or couples) as something you do only when you’re broken, it shouldn’t be that way. It can be a tuneup to help a good relationship be even better. For example, when I do relationship mediations for couples, I help them see each other’s sometimes conflicting wants -- he wants this/she wants that -- not as threats but as mere facts to manage (with love and respect). You can find your partner’s request unreasonable or even crazy, but if it’s not a big deal for you to come through, maybe you do it simply because you love them and want them to feel good. (If it is a big deal, you can at least tell them lovingly why you wish you could but you can’t.)

A relationships researcher I respect, psychologist John Gottman, gives weekend workshops for couples that can be attended online (gottman.com). Couples on a budget could just get Gottman’s book, “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work,” out of the library and read and discuss a section a week. Gottman’s workshop or book would also be a great wedding present. We find wedding vows romantic, but we tend not to consider that “till death do us part!” would have been a great T-shirt slogan for enemy soldiers trying to off each other in the Hundred Years’ War.

: I live in California, where there’s outdoor dining. My husband and I disagree about bringing our dog to restaurants. Our pooch has to sit under the table, and I think it’s really dirty and unkind to put him there.

My husband thinks we should bring him.

What do you think?

— Concerned : Dogs long to please us, which is why they always give us such wonderful little presents: “Wow, Toto, headless dead bird?

Oh, good, because a diamond tennis bracelet would be super boring.”

By human cleanliness standards, dogs are seriously disgusting. The “Merry Corpsemas!” gifts on the duvet and the love some breeds have for rolling around in the mud (immediately after you spend $75 at the groomer) aren’t the half of it. Dogs live to sniff poo; they’ll snub their water bowl to drink out of the toilet; and they have the lovely habit of using your Persian rug for toilet paper — especially when you’ve got company over for a chi-chi cocktail party.

In other words, any minor foot dirt under a restaurant table is unlikely to be a problem for your dog. All that’s likely to be “really dirty” are the looks you might get from patrons with allergies or dog-in-dinery issues. From your dog’s perspective, it’ll be simply awesome to be at your feet.

Anthrozoologist John W.S. Bradshaw explains that dogs co-evolved with humans, starting between 15,000 to 25,000 years ago, per archeological estimates. Over all those doggiehuman generations ever since, dogs have been bred to find human contact extremely rewarding. Bradshaw and his colleagues discovered that some dogs — Labs and border collies, for example -- suffer intense “separation distress” when they’re apart from their human.

“They find it difficult to cope without us,” writes Bradshaw. “Since we humans have programmed this vulnerability, it's our responsibility to ensure that our dogs do not suffer as a result.”

As I see it, we’re cruel to exclude dogs from so many areas of our lives. Take airline travel.

Airlines require dogs over 20 pounds -- no matter how well-behaved -- to be put in a cage and stowed with the luggage in the hold of the plane. The airlines could easily adopt a more compassionate policy: Instead, give the cage space to that baby who’s sure to scream all the way from Dallas to St. Louis, trashing the mental health of everybody from 1A to 32E.

lOGY

JAN 04 - JAN 10

BY ROB BREZSNY

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "I only want people around me who can do the impossible," said Capricorn businesswoman Elizabeth Arden. In that spirit, and in accordance with your astrological potentials, I hereby authorize you to pursue two "impossible" goals in 2021. The first comes to you courtesy of fashion writer Diana Vreeland, who wrote, "There’s only one thing in life, and that’s the continual renewal of inspiration." Your second "impossible" goal is from actor Juliette Binoche, who said, "My only ambition is to be true every moment I am living."

ScORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): According to

motivational speaker Les Brown, the problem for many people is not that "they aim too high and miss," but that "they aim too low and hit." I'm conveying this to you just in time for the Reach Higher Phase of your long-term astrological cycle.

According to my analysis, you'll generate good fortune for yourself if you refine and expand your personal goals. Here's a key detail: Don't borrow anyone else's standards of success. Home in on your own unique soul's code, and give it fuller, deeper, wilder expression.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) One of my primary pleasures in reading books is to discover thoughts and feelings I have never before encountered. That's exciting! But it's hard to force myself to keep plowing through an author's prose if it's full of stuff that I already know about from my own life or from books, movies, and other art. Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky's novels fit the latter description. I realize that many people love his fiction, but for me it is monumentally obvious and boring. What about you, Sagittarius? Where do you go to be exposed to thrilling new ways of looking at the world?

Judging from the astrological omens, I conclude that this quest will be especially fun and crucial for you in the coming months.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Your past

is becoming increasingly irrelevant, while your future is still a bit amorphous. To help clarify the possibilities that you could harvest in 2021, I suggest you suspend your theories bout what your life is about. Empty yourself out as much as you can. Pledge to re-evaluate everything you think you know about your purpose. Once you've accomplished that, meditate on the following questions: 1. What experiences do you truly need and passionately long for—not the experiences you needed and longed for in the past, but rather those that are most vivid and moving right now. 2. What are the differences between your fearful fantasies and your accurate intuitions? How can you cultivate the latter and downplay the former? 3. What are your nightly dreams and semi-conscious fantasies telling you about how to create the most interesting version of the future?

PISCES (Feb 19-March 20): Author Gunter

Grass wrote, "Writers know that sometimes things are there in the drawer for decades before they finally come out and we are capable of writing about them." I would universalize his thought in this way: Most of us know that possibly useful ideas and dreams are in the drawer for years before they finally come out and we know how to use them. I believe this will be an ongoing experience for you in 2021, Pisces.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The pandemic has

made it challenging to nurture our communities.

In order to make new connections and keep our existing connections vibrant, we've had to be extra resourceful. I hope you will make this work one of your holy quests in 2021, Aries. In my astrological opinion, you should be ingenious and tireless as you nurture your web of allies. Your assignment during our ongoing crisis is to lead the way as you show us all how to ply the art of high-minded networking.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus actor

George Clooney is worth $500 million. Yet his dazzling opulence is puny compared to that of Taurus entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune exceeds $100 billion. It's my duty to inform you that you will probably never achieve either man's levels of wealth. Yet I do hold out hope that in the next 12 months you will launch plans that ultimately enable

you to have all the money you need. 2021 will be a favorable time to formulate and set in motion a dynamic master plan for financial stability.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): One of your main

themes for the next 12 months comes from Leonardo da Vinci. He wrote, "To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else." If you use da Vinci's instructions as a seed for your meditations, you'll stir up further inspirations about how to make 2021 a historymaking epoch in the evolution of your education. I hope you will treasure the value of "learning how to see" and "realizing how everything connects to everything else." They should be at the root of your intention to learn as much as you can.

“Jonesin” Crosswords "Some Good Things From 2020" --it's been a tough year, but... by Matt Jones

CANCER (June 21-July 22): An extensive study by psychiatric researchers suggests that well more than half of us experienced a potentially disabling trauma in childhood. You're in the minority if you didn't! That's the bad news.

The good news is that 2021 will be a time when you Cancerians will have more power than ever before to heal at least some of the wounds from your old traumas. You will also attract extra luck and help to accomplish these subtle miracles. To get the process started, make a list of three practical actions you can take to instigate your vigorous healing.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo author Isabel Allende

says, "We are in the world to search for love, find it and lose it, again and again. With each love, we are born anew, and with each love that ends we collect a new wound. I am covered with proud scars." I appreciate Allende's point of view, and understand that it's useful, even inspirational, for many people. But my path has been different. As a young man, I enjoyed my endless quest for sex and romance. It was thrilling to keep leaping from affair to affair.

But as I eventually discovered, that habit made me stupid and superficial about love. It prevented me from having to do the hard psychological work necessary to continually reinvent intimacy— and become eligible for deeper, more interesting versions of love.

I bring this to your attention, Leo, because I think 2021 could be your time for a personal rebirth that will be made possible by deep, interesting versions of love.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Occultist Israel

Regardie (1907–1985) was an accomplished author and influencer. To what did he attribute his success? I'll let him speak for himself: "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." I hope you will write out this quote and tape it to your bathroom mirror for the duration of 2021, Virgo.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a mystical symbol of the hidden structure of creation. At its heart, in the most pivotal position, is the principle of beauty. This suggests that the wise teachers who gave us the Tree did not regard beauty as merely a luxury to be sought only when all practical business is taken care of. Nor is it a peripheral concern for those who pursue a spiritual path. Rather, beauty is essential for our health and intelligence. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to take a cue from the Tree of Life. During the next 12 months, give special attention to people and things and experiences and thoughts and feelings that are beautiful to you. Meditate on how to nurture them and learn from them and draw inspiration from them.

ACROSS 1 Time's 2020 Entertainer of the Year 4 Goose variety 10 Go without eating 14 Catch a bug 15 Cover-ups 16 Daily Bruin publisher 17 ___-Caps (candy for moviegoers, when we went out to movies) 18 Country singer who donated $1 million to Covid vaccine research 20 Warmonger 22 "Over here" 23 Ronan of The Irish Tenors 24 Programming language with a coffee-cup logo 26 Ewe in the movie "Babe" 28 Square root of 2, rounded down 29 "Gone With the Wind" surname 31 Give a big hand 33 Got hitched 34 Pioneering Vice President-Elect of the United States 37 Network (abbr.)

38 Digital watch maker 39 "That's a relief" 43 Show with an unprecedented sweep of seven Emmy Awards 46 "___ longa, vita brevis" 49 Fine-tunes 50 Oven controls 51 "Cold Mountain" extra 52 Apple phone software 53 "It ___ what you think" 54 "Foundation" author Asimov 56 Evil-___ (witch and ally of Skeletor) 58 Drive-___ menu 61 Former British Army captain who walked laps for charity in April 2020, raising over 32 million pounds by his 100th birthday 65 Dull routine 66 Poet Pound 67 Noisy pig 68 "Death ___ Salesman" 69 Element #10 70 Buddhist temple 71 Initialism that became increasingly prevalent in 2020

DOWN 1 Shindig 2 "Bob's Burgers" daughter 3 Downtempo R&B songs 4 Callous fellow 5 Word on Hawaiian license plates 6 "Blue" or "White" river 7 Efficiently 8 Crafty initials?

9 "Cleopatra" animal 10 Boxer Tyson 11 "Don't hesitate!"

12 "Citizen Kane" actor Everett 13 Soaked up some sun 19 Game maker since 1972 21 Units of purity 25 "Batman Forever" actor Kilmer 26 Deserves 27 Defunct Houston hockey team 29 Approvals 30 Bale stuff 31 Winter driving needs 32 Rash action 35 Outburst usually acknowledged by others 36 Run at full speed 40 London hub 41 "Electric" fish 42 Calendar units (abbr.)

44 A Marx brother 45 Floppy followers 46 Gotten up 47 Blow up, perhaps 48 Mall pizza eatery 53 How errors may be noted 55 Words with "early age" or "impasse" 56 Like some odds 57 "Oh ___!" (song from the "Imagine" album) 59 Elizabethan collar 60 Home of Arches and Zion National Parks 62 Swabbie's swabber 63 "Mamma ___!" (musical based on ABBA songs) 64 "Golden" time

Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 17

NORTHERN EXPRESS

OTHER BUSY CONTRACTOR NEEDS ASSISTANCE: Looking for older/retired person with past building knowledge to help 20 hours +-/week. Must have own truck and tools. Good cash pay for experience. Contact traversehomes@gmail.com ____________________________________ SEEKING MICHIGAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS: Experienced MMJ caregiver and lifetime organic gardener.

Custom grown near TC. (231) 932-9724 ____________________________________ IOEBA OLDE ENGLISH BULLDOGGES, Blue Ribbon: First shots and wormer, dew claws removed, tails docked. 3 females, 8 males. Ready for homes mid January. $2000, taking deposits 989-305-2903 ____________________________________ INSTRUCTORS WANTED - College for Kids Summer 2021 Face to face teachers

CLAS SIFIE DS

needed for Summer 2021! Grades 3-8: Art, STEM and more. Full or half-day, week-long classes between June 21 and Aug 20 Course proposals accepted until Jan. 20 kjackson@ nmc.edu ____________________________________

PROFESSIONAL PAINTING SERVICES Interior & Exterior Painting Services Deck Power washing/Staining 231-499-6844 ____________________________________ CASH BACK ON SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HOMES Thinking of buying a home in Bonita Springs, Estero, Ft. Myers or Naples? Get cash back with us. Bev LaLonde, Broker, Gulf Lifestyle Properties. Licensed in MI and FL. 239-234-0044 ____________________________________ HUMAN SERVICE WORKER, SAFE HARBOR DAY Shelter (Part Time / Temporary-Seasonal) The Safe Harbor Day Shelter has immediate openings for Human Service Workers, responsible for the dayto-day operations of the Safe Harbor Day

Shelter. Applicants must be available to work scheduled rotating shifts, including weekends, holidays and overtime as required.

The Temporary Day Shelter at Safe Harbor is operated by Goodwill Northern Michigan's Street Outreach program. https://goodwillnmi. applicantpro.com/jobs/ ____________________________________ HUMAN SERVICE WORKER, SAFE HARBOR Emergency Winter Night Shelter (Part Time / Temporary-Seasonal) The Safe Harbor Emergency Winter Overnight Shelter has immediate openings for Human Service Workers, responsible for the day-today operations of the Safe Harbor shelter.

Applicant https://goodwillnmi.applicantpro. com/jobs/ ____________________________________ HUMAN SERVICE WORKERS - GOODWILL INN (Full and Part Time) The Goodwill Inn has immediate openings for Human Service Workers, responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Goodwill Inn Emergency

Homeless Shelter. Applicants must be available to work scheduled rotating shifts, including overnights, weekends, holidays and overtime as required. https://goodwillnmi. applicantpro.com/jobs/

northernexpress.com/classifieds Easy. Accessible. All Online.

Local ingredients, gifts, and meals that bring joy.

18 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

Mike Annelin

Enthusiastic & Experienced

Call Mike 231-499-4249 or 231-929-7900 CK BA

200 inspiring feet of frontage on East Bay 4 bed, 2.5 bed ranch on 1.05 acres $2,000,000 MLS# 1880314

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

L SO

S

Gorgeous 4 bed, 2.5 bath in Port of Old Mission High quality finishes throughout, wooded setting $525,000 MLS# 1881334

E

T

0.72 acres, corner of Carver & Hastings Zoned industrial, empty lot $850,000 MLS#1882613

D

D OL

L SA

ON

T

KE

AR

M HE

E

L SA

G

DIN

N PE

Beautiful 3 bed, 2.5 bath ranch on Old Mission Elegant home, lovely countryside setting $425,00 MLS# 1881538

Lovely, remodeled 3 bed, 3 bath home On secluded and wooded Arbutus Ridge $350,000 MLS# 1882112

0.84 acre lot for a new build, near Kingsley Partially wooded with countryside views $30,000 MLS# 1882064

0.75 acre lot for a new build, near Kingsley Open lot, nice countryside views $30,0000 MLS# 1882065

G

DIN

N PE

0.41 acre wooded lot for new build In desirable Slabtown - great location $150,000 1320 Wayne Street

Northern Express Weekly • jan 04, 2021 • 19

20 • jan 04, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly