In January, a contingent of northern Michiganders will run 250 miles across Ethiopia, from the capital, Addis Ababa, to the Yirgachefe coffee growing region in the southern part of the ancient East African nation, as part of a campaign to generate awareness and raise $100,000 for local education projects, including the construction of much-needed schools in coffee-harvesting communities.
By Nic Halverson Sun contributor In light of the ongoing debate about whether or not to pave the Sleeping Bear Heritage multi-use bike trail that will soon run through the National Park, we solicited this perspective from an avid rider on Missouri’s “Katy Trail”. If I learned anything the first week I moved to rural […]
By Jacob Wheeler This story was written for AbsoluteMichigan.com ANN ARBOR — President Barack Obama took a break from the constant political storms in Washington, D.C., to address the University of Michigan (U-M) 2010 spring commencement ceremony today. And thunderstorms rolling across the Midwest rewarded him with a break in the weather, as nearly 85,000 […]
This report was published by Progress Illinois: http://www.progressillinois.com/posts/content/2010/02/16/dueling-solutions-asian-carp-invasion By Adam Doster Last week, the White House released its own $78.5 million Asian carp deterrence plan. Environmentalists, nervous that an invasion will wreak havoc on the region’s ecosystem, are expressing disappointment with the Obama administration’s lack of a timeline or cohesive plan. The reversal of the […]
The significance of Obama’s coronation Tuesday was overwhelming; waving goodbye to Bush, on the other hand, was an emotion much easier to measure By Jacob Wheeler Sun editor WASHINGTON D.C.—All night and all morning, trickles of people turned to streams, flowing out of Metro stops and Greyhound buses, through tunnels and down city streets. Those […]
Chris Skellenger, a local musician, gardener and humanitarian, is spending part of this winter in Lesotho, a small landlocked African nation surrounded entirely by South Africa. With his nonprofit organization, 11 Oaks, Skellenger promotes bucket drip irrigation in barren and dry Lesotho. As Nadine Gilmer reported in her profile of Skellenger in the August 9, […]
Award-winning documentary to screen in Traverse City By Holly Wren Spaulding Sun contributor We are speeding through the Orange Free State in South Africa. The sky here is as black as any sky I’ve seen—inky dark and throbbing with stars. Tall grasses bend in the wind on either side of a narrow and mostly empty […]
By Dan Herd Sun contributor PHILADELPHIA—The section of tables was “reserved,” but that didn’t stop Phil from asking the waitress if we could sit there. It was the only open area in the bar, and probably the only open tables within 30 blocks. We took our seats, ordered another round, and Phil said “Hey, maybe […]
Obama’s arrival at the Democratic National Convention By Jacob Wheeler Sun editor Inspired by the late Norman Mailer’s essay on John F. Kennedy, “Superman Comes to the Supermarket” (Esquire magazine, November 1960). DENVER, August 28 — Could you hear it? The roar of 85,000 people rising to the upper stratosphere of Mile High Stadium (officially […]
By Jacob Wheeler Sun editor Founding editor Jacob Wheeler was in Denver last week reporting for Chicago-based magazine, In These Times (www.inthesetimes.com), on the Democratic National Convention and the coronation of Barack Obama as the party’s presidential nominee. Here are his dispatches: Was Hillary’s speech a turning point? Many Clinton supporters in Denver swallow doubts, […]