Sally Neal: Rage Against the Machine

By Corin Blust Sun contributor Leelanau County activist Sally Neal’s paintings are full of strikingly vibrant colors and candid messages. They emit a raw, emotional feeling that speaks of traditional Mexican art, Willem DeKooning’s Woman paintings, and the later works of Pablo Picasso. Her acrylic canvasses are not classically beautiful in the sense that the […]

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For “SonBern,” Polka is Life

By Bill Dungjen Sun contributor Even before formally meeting Sonny and Bernie Czerniak, I couldn’t imagine a couple more steeped in the polka. At the annual Cedar Polka Festival (held this year over Fourth of July weekend) it’s impossible not to notice the Czerniaks. At first they appear as a red and white blur on […]

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World Citizen Alights in Empire: An Interview with Marian Gyr

By F. Josephine Arrowood Sun contributor Fans of the 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude may be thrilled to discover that a vigorous, free-thinking, octogenarian social activist has recently made her home in Empire. Yet Marian Gyr is much more interesting and engaged than a hippie-era movie character. The lively educator, environmentalist and matriarch says, […]

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Teaching the healing of Reiki

By Codi Yeager Sun contributor It was still in the room—warm and dark and safe. There was soft music playing in the background and the faint, mixed aroma of essential oils bottled in their glass vials. Plants cozied up to the walls. Trees stood silent outside the windows. On the massage table, I lay looking […]

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Making a difference, one bear at a time

By Pat Stinson Sun contributor “What you think on, grows.” That’s the firm belief of Empire resident Jan Sikorski, who meditated and slept on the question, “What is mine to do?” after watching the movie, “The Secret,” loaned to her by a friend. In the movie, Mother Teresa’s statement, “Do NOT invite me to an […]

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A Marathon autumn for Ranae Ihme

From staff reports Chicago — the city of skyscrapers, wind chill, good hotdogs, bad baseball … and heat stroke. That’s right, the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 7 was stopped in the middle of the race this year as temperatures reached the mid-90s and volunteers on the sidelines ran out of water. A police officer from […]

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Mike Vanderberg: Free Thinker, Anarchist, Village Anchor

By F. Josephine Arrowood Sun contributor Since the sudden death of Mike Vanderberg on August 11, at the site of the recent Dunegrass Music Festival, residents of the Village of Empire and beyond have responded to the news with shock, sadness and a sense of disbelief. This generous, eccentric spirit created and presided over village […]

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Seldom seen, always present: Outlaw art & adventure theology in Leelanau

By F. Josephine Arrowood Sun contributor Recent visitors to the Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA) on Pine Street, behind Lake Street Studios, may have been surprised by a large pyramid, traced in steel and enclosing a suspended boulder, that now graces the approach to the building. Yet some have encountered this Art Brut sculpture before, […]

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Saving the world, one bucket at a time

By Nadine Gilmer Sun contributor “When you get started with one network of aid organizations, you never run out of missions,” says Chris Skellenger, a local musician and gardener whose humanitarian work started with the non-profit Safe Passage, which helps kids growing up in the Guatemala City garbage dump, and has led to other charitable […]

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Female brewers reclaim their art

By Debra Townsend Sun contributor Stacey Block isn’t about to let big beer companies tell her what kind of frothy ale she should fancy. Stacey is a brewster, as female brewers are referred to, and along with only two other brewsters in Michigan, she is reclaiming the craft that originally began in women’s hands thousands […]

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