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Northport Tea Dance creates LGBTQ safe space
Upcoming EventSophie Gilroy came out to her parents last October. “My daughter told us she had bisexual feelings. She was nervous and sweaty, and she started to cry. She asked us, ‘Is that OK?’” her father Joseph remembered. Joseph saw that his daughter was struggling to feel included, to feel celebrated. Two weeks later he took Sophie to the inaugural Northport Pride Tea Dance at Northport Pub and Grill, an event organized by the Michael Chetcuti Foundation which headlined drag queen and reality television personality Scarlet Envy. The Tea Dance returns this year on Sunday, Oct. 2, from Noon to 4 p.m. and features drag star Kim Chi together with music by DJ Jace.
Capturing a plein air Leelanau moment in time
Local PersonalityMichelle Jahraus and her dog arrived at Good Harbor beach before dawn. She made it a point to get there early enough to choose the perfect spot to set up her easel and paint supplies in time to capture the sunrise over Lake Michigan. Jahraus, a Maple City resident, had just begun to block in the scene when she felt a powerful whoosh of air accompanied by the sound of beating wings. She looked up to see a bald eagle flying away from a perch right above her head. It is moments like this that draw artists to the act of en plein air, a French expression meaning “in the open air” and the practice of painting outdoors, on location.
Tommy’s First Mates walk for suicide prevention, Sept.17
Upcoming EventLast year, following the death of 17-year-old Tommy Reay, his friends at Glen Lake School formed a peer support group called Tommy’s First Mates, which raised $40,000 to train school staff and local teens—with the help of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), a national organization that raises funding for programming, training, research and governmental advocacy. Throughout the United States, the Walk Out of Darkness offers an opportunity for people affected by suicide and mental illness to gather, remember, share and also raise funds. The Traverse City walk features teams from all over Northern Michigan that will meet at the TC Open Space on Saturday, Sept. 17, beginning at 9 a.m.
Tribes lead effort to restore aquatic ecosystems
Investigative Article, Upcoming EventThe Crystal River near Glen Arbor in Leelanau County is one of the central features in a new documentary film to be screened on WCMU Public Television at Noon on Sunday, Oct. 2. Restoring Aquatic Ecosystems shines a light on Michigan’s first indigenous-led, multi-agency collaborative created to restore and protect the ecology of streams and rivers across the entire region. Led by the Grand Traverse Band (GTB) of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Tribal Stream and Michigan Fruitbelt Collaborative includes more than a dozen nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies working together to remove blockages to the natural flow of water in Michigan’s streams and rivers—often called “the arteries of mother earth.”
No billboards allowed in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Investigative Article, NewsPicnickers who chose Good Harbor Beach to eat dinner and watch the sunset on Friday, Sept. 9, were surprised to discover they shared the popular beach in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with a real estate company, based in Traverse City, which erected a pop-up tent, placed a sign at the parking lot, and flew a drone above the shoreline. “The gathering itself likely does not require a Special Use Permit, but we are concerned with the corporate advertising and drone use in the National Lakeshore by this group,” said Sleeping Bear Dunes superintendent Scott Tucker.
The things they carry: exploring the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s VESSELS exhibit
Investigative Article, Upcoming EventThe Glen Arbor Arts Center’s current VESSELS exhibit offers an out-of-the-box look at bowls, baskets, urns, pods, and other objects that store and carry things. This juried exhibition is on display until Oct. 27 and features 28 exhibitors from Michigan, California, Illinois, and Rhode Island. Of particular note, the exhibit includes the Creation of the World 6/9, a needlework tapestry from Judy Chicago’s “Birth Project”—a feminist initiative from the early 1980s, in which Chicago collaborated with more than 150 artists to create dozens of images combining painting and needlework that celebrate various aspects of the birth process; from the painful to the mythical. This series celebrated the birth-giving capacity of women along with their creative spirit. With women’s reproductive rights under siege, and the arts reemerging as a forum of social and political expression, we chatted with the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s gallery manager Sarah Bearup-Neal about VESSELS and the inclusion of a work from “Birth Project.”
Sleeping Bear Dunes holds “Find Your Park” After Dark star parties this fall
Upcoming EventSleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has announced the next two Star Parties this fall. Join park rangers and astronomers from the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society (GTAS) on Saturday, September 24, from 8 to 10 p.m., at the Dune Climb parking lot for the next Star Party of the 2022 series. Highlights will include the harvest moon (the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox), the planets Saturn and Jupiter, as well as star clusters, nebulae, and other deep-sky objects later in the evening.
“Thar she rows!”
Local Personality, Sports/AdventureOn Saturday, Aug. 27, at 7:20 a.m., a whaleboat—the likes of which hunted the world’s largest mammals in the mid-1800s in the North Atlantic Ocean—left the public dock in Glen Arbor as its crew rowed, then sailed across the Manitou Passage. The crew’s goal was not to catch a whale but to reach North Manitou Island. Leelanau local Pam Houtteman spotted the crew at the dock and took photos. She took down captain Shane Brosier’s phone number in order to send him the images, but when she asked for his name, he offered the famous opening line from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, “Call me Ishmael.”
Bird sanctuary just part of Charter’s obsession
Local PersonalityFor some, birding is an engaging activity. For others, observing and helping our feathered friends is a passion. For Kay Charter, it’s a self-described obsession. “I had an epiphany three years after moving into our home,” said the founder of the non-profit Saving Birds Through Habitat. “I saw a winter wren. It’s the Mozart of the bird world.” Saving Birds Through Habitat is a haven for thousands of birds. “We’ve lost more than 30 percent of our birds. Songbirds and shorebirds are the ones that have taken the hit,” she says.
From Michigan to Finland and back
Dispatch from Afar, Local PersonalityIn this essay published in our late August edition of the Sun, Empire native Jessica Sharry reflects on moving from Northern Michigan to Finland and back, on practicing yoga, on immigration, on food, and on nature.