What happens when a place is so beautiful that everyone wants to go there—and then they stay? That question is central to Leelanau County author Tim Mulherin’s book This Magnetic North: Candid Conversations On A Changing Northern Michigan. Mulherin will discuss why he wrote the book, and the conclusions he drew at the July 11 Coffee with the Authors interview at the Glen Arbor Arts Center. The program begins at 11 am.
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the date the COVID-19 Coronavirus global pandemic officially arrived in Michigan, prompting a business and social shutdown, political upheaval, and many months of confusion, anxiety and pain. On March 10, 2020, the state’s first two COVID cases were confirmed in metro Detroit, prompting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency in Michigan. Our COVID coverage in the Glen Arbor Sun between March 2020 and Spring-2021 included stories about: essential workers who kept us safe; victims (and survivors) of COVID; businesses and the National Park closing facilities; how public health workers, schools and emergency medical personnel adjusted; our collective reconnection with nature during the lockdown; artistic reactions to the pandemic; how musicians adapted; the pandemic exacerbating educational divides, and frequent updates on vaccination and infection statistics in Leelanau County. Click here to read those stories.
“What if we have lived, not just this lifetime, but millions since the earth began? Was I a leaf in a past life? What if we are truly part of everything that lives? Is it possible that there is no boundary between us and the world?” writes Kathleen Stocking in her latest essay. “When times are hard, like during a plague, sometimes people regress. What would late science teacher Mr. Bolton think of people taking horse de-wormer to protect them against the COVID?” Phil Deering, who has a small hobby farm, can’t get horse de-wormer for his animals. “Now they’re hiding it behind the counter,” he says, “So people who need it for their animals can still get it.”
Invasive PPE masks routinely defile oceans but rarely the Glen Lakes. “Fight invaders,” says Jack Beam. “Fight COVID. Fight plastic. Wear washable cloth masks.”