What is Yoga?

Simply put, yoga is a path of self-discovery. The word itself comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, to unite or to yoke. This union or joining together in the context of yoga practice has to do with balancing and uniting opposing forces within the body and mind. On a physical level this can have to do with strength and flexibility, rest and motion, left and right, hot and cold, etc. Mentally and emotionally through yoga one can achieve balance in life via thought and emotion. How? That is to be learned via the instruction and guidance of a teacher and the various methods of yoga available.

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A portrait of the artist

Quinn Faylor, a queer, multi-disciplinary artist, was born and raised in Petoskey and currently lives and works in Detroit. A 2016 graduate of the University of Michigan with a BA in Arts and Ideas in the Humanities, Faylor was an artist in resident at the Glen Arbor Arts Center earlier this month. Since June is Pride Month, the Sun spoke to Faylor, who identifies as non-binary, about the residency, about their muse and artistic inspiration, and about queer artists, tolerance and understanding, and coming out.

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A Glen Lake Laker hangs up his spikes after a career on German baseball diamonds

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This spring, for the first time since he moved to Munich 15 years ago, Maple City native Steve Walker is not hurling fastballs from the pitcher’s mound or smacking line drives from the batter’s box. As so often happens when we reach our mid-30s, baseball, or the activity we love most, takes a backseat to fatherhood and family life.

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Katie Dunn is Local-ISH!

So, if you are Katie Dunn, and you have been coming to Glen Arbor every summer since 1976, and you have worked all over town, and you know everybody, are you still a ‘Fudgie,’ or ‘Permafudge,” or now a ‘Local?’ Katie declares, “I feel like I’m ‘Local-ish.’ When I bought a car to keep up my 1927 log cabin I own on Big Glen Lake, I got a Michigan license plate. Doesn’t that give credence to me being a local?” she asks with a smile.

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How Leelanau locals equipped Guatemalan first responders

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There is no real government support for Guatemala’s first responders. When they’re not on a fire or ambulance call, they are out in the streets getting donations in coffee cans from passing drivers to fund their meager salaries and minimal equipment. Most of them have to fight fires in jeans and t-shirts. Serious injuries are endemic to their work. When Guatemalan Fredy Maldonado showed Burdickville’s Mike Binsfeld the situation, Binsfeld stepped up the Buckets of Rain commitment to include money for fixing fire station roofs and ambulances, and to provide medicine for the community. Through his efforts and those of Leelanau County resident Kathy Fordyce and her outreach to local firefighters at the Cedar Fire Dept., desperately needed gear is now making its way to Guatemala.

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On Memorial Day: Gaining Recognition for a Fallen Brother

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Specialist William Gabrielsen who died on March 10, 1970, from injuries sustained during the Vietnam War. Gabrielsen’s name was added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 2014. By Michael Papa Sun contributor In the early morning hours of August 12, 1968, Specialist William Gabrielsen and Lieutenant James O’Connor prepared for a reconnaissance mission to track enemy […]

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Kaz McCue puts together Leelanau Puzzle Company

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In October of 2021, the first snow frosted the maples still ablaze with red and orange color. Art instructor Kaz McCue from the Leelanau School saw the opportunity to take his Photography 2 class for a ride. They got great photos, and when Kaz sent one of the best to his wife Pam, an art teacher at St. Johns Country Day in Orange Park, Fla., she replied, “This would make a great puzzle!”

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A Ukrainian refugee arrives in Michigan to meet her grandchildren

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“Come here, my joy, my happiness,” Liubov Shchegelska tells her grandson, Tim, in Ukrainian as the 2-year-old boy plays in the yard outside his parents’ Traverse City apartment. Tim’s parents are Viktor Grebennykov and Diana Grebennykova, natives of Ukraine who moved to northern Michigan in 2019 when Viktor—an Olympian in the 2012 London games—became coach of the Lake Leelanau Rowing Club. Liubov, who is Diana’s mom, could almost tune out the war ravaging her homeland—the conflict that sent her across borders and into the United States just two weeks before—but also allowed her to meet her grandchildren, Tim, and his 4-year-old sister, Ellis, for the very first time. On this day she could almost tune out the war. Almost.

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Leland Fishtown’s past, present, and the woman guiding its future

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Leland’s Fishtown is riding high these days, turning the corner on three years of shanty lifts and other reconstruction efforts imperative to preserving the future of this historic landmark as lake levels rise. This year has brought recognition on multiple levels, earning Fishtown a spot on the National Register of Historic Places and the Michigan Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation.

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Douglas Fierberg’s arc of justice

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Attorney and Solon Township resident Douglas Fierberg is a trim, compact man in his early 60s, with a towering reputation as a relentless advocate for victims of school violence. On a recent day in his Traverse City office, he grabs a list off his desk and begins to read aloud: “Student death. Student shot dead. Student death. Student death. Student death. Student permanent brain injury. Student death. Student death. Dead son. Raped daughter. Student death. Student death.” The obscene, gut-wrenching litany is part of what he and his colleagues at The Fierberg National Law Group must work with every day in their civil litigation practice.

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