Columns

Out and About: County Fair, fiber, and local events

Out and About: County Fair, fiber, and local events

Editorial StaffAug 16, 20243 min read

The St. Joe County Grange Fair is a little more than a month away. I’ll be volunteering as a Courtesy Cart driver, so if you see me, flag me down and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go on…

Pat’s Bits and Pieces: An interesting age we live in

Pat’s Bits and Pieces: An interesting age we live in

Editorial StaffAug 16, 20244 min read

You have to admit we live in an interesting age – the technical revolution.These days you can’t even comprehend what we would do without our computers, tablets and cell phones.In fact, those “housebound” weeks as we muddled through the pandemic…

May I Walk with You? HOLY COMMUNION/ALTAR CALL

May I Walk with You? HOLY COMMUNION/ALTAR CALL

Editorial StaffAug 16, 20242 min read

What happens when you go to communion? Almost all mass-goers receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, each time they go to mass. Wow!Often, I have witnessed Evangelical Christians, at the end of their services, walk forward…

Blue Star

Blue Star

Editorial StaffAug 14, 20244 min read

By Scott SullivanEditorMyLifeThe email from MyLife said “Fix mistakes in yo …” A generous offer. Where do I begin? Yo-, I thought again. Who is “MyLife” and why do they call themselves that?What shall I pay them to scour databases…

Life as Performance Art

Life as Performance Art

Editorial StaffAug 14, 20244 min read

Many of our parents cautioned us to “Be nice” when playing with other children,  talking with adults or any other social interaction. From the 1940s until May 1985, the Ivy Room was Durham, N.C.’s foremost and only kosher Jewish deli. It also served…

Mike’s Musings: I’m disgusting and stupid- so readers say

Mike’s Musings: I’m disgusting and stupid- so readers say

Editorial StaffAug 14, 20244 min read

I take a lot of flack for my opinion column, Mike’s Musings, from time to time. Readers (and I’m so happy you read the paper) often disagree with what I have to say. That’s all right- everyone is entitled to…

Blue Star

Blue Star

Editorial StaffAug 7, 20243 min read

By Scott SullivanEditorRoad ChatterOnboarding freeway to Saugatuck, goose gas, shoot gap, tuck in behind truck, patient, read plates, speculate-state-to-state, there’s a space, swing left, boost speed to 80, patient, bottleneck clears past where M-6 scissors inAway to the shining sea,…

Mike’s Musings: USPS keeps raising prices while providing poorer service

Mike’s Musings: USPS keeps raising prices while providing poorer service

Editorial StaffAug 7, 20243 min read

Trouble might come with this rant, but I’ve about had it with United States Postal Service.They just recently raised the price of a postage stamp to 71 cents. It seems every year the price goes up another 5 cents. I’m…

Life as Performance Art

Life as Performance Art

Editorial StaffAug 7, 20244 min read

Pat and I have been to Paris several times, so we were eager to watch the opening of the Summer Olympics there.  We knew we would see familiar haunts, which excited us. The creativity and style of Parisians appealed to…

Blue Star

Blue Star

Editorial StaffJul 31, 20243 min read

By Scott SullivanEditorColorsWhy do the Summer Olympic Games seem to come in the nick of time?I was 13 when the ’68 Games arrived, fresh from seeing assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy play over and on…

Mike’s Musings: Olympics should be about sports and sports only

Mike’s Musings: Olympics should be about sports and sports only

Editorial StaffJul 31, 20243 min read

I’ve been an avid fan of the Olympics since I was a pre-teen. I was glued to the TV set in my teenage years, watching the opening ceremony and most of the events. It was a tradition I have always…

Looking Out: Broken Smiles

Editorial StaffJul 26, 20243 min read

I get up in the morning. Take a shower. Lift some weights and do some exercises, then take a bicycle ride. Take a shower. Work in the garden and yard. Take a shower. Work in my shop and get covered…

Pat’s Bits and Pieces: The 141st Clare County Fair is winding up this weekend

Pat’s Bits and Pieces: The 141st Clare County Fair is winding up this weekend

Editorial StaffJul 26, 20244 min read

It will be all over again tomorrow so if you want some fun to liven up your summer, there’s still time to catch a bit of it at the fairgrounds in Harrison where the 141st Clare County Fair has been…

Postcard from the Pines: It’s Odd Love Story

Postcard from the Pines: It’s Odd Love Story

Editorial StaffJul 26, 20245 min read

Marion, Michigan has a mystical hold on those who come from here, no matter where they may be. I’ve spent considerable time thinking about the Marion phenomena, trying to understand. I’ve written about it more than once and I still…

May I Walk with You? WITNESS

May I Walk with You? WITNESS

Editorial StaffJul 26, 20243 min read

When I read these words, I was reminded that in many evangelical churches, members give their “testimony” as a witness to their faith in Jesus. It has been a long time since I heard anyone give a personal testimony, sharing…

Life as Performance Art

Life as Performance Art

Editorial StaffJul 24, 20247 min read

    On Saturday the thirteen of this month, Pat and I were out along the lakeshore for beautiful evening at Ox-Bow School of the Arts.  There is not cell phone service there, so we missed hearing the news of the…

Mike’s Musings: One would never imagine an assassination attempt, a president resigning in one week

Mike’s Musings: One would never imagine an assassination attempt, a president resigning in one week

Editorial StaffJul 24, 20243 min read

What a week for the history books. First a former president, now the leading candidate for president, survived an assassination attempt, then his opponent, the current president announced he would no longer be running for a second term.I’m still confused…

Blue Star

Blue Star

Editorial StaffJul 17, 20244 min read

NuclearLast week’s “STR cap may go nuclea’ anyway” story already has. Then came the shooting in Pennsylvania.I applaud Saugatuck City Council for trying to protect peace, quiet and safety in Community Residential neighborhoods. That’s what R-1 zoning is meant to…

Mike’s Musings: Tone down political Rhetric demand answers from ss

Mike’s Musings: Tone down political Rhetric demand answers from ss

Editorial StaffJul 17, 20243 min read

Like many of you I was in shock when I heard there was an assassination attempt on former president Trump’s life while he was speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania. It had been 43 years since the barbaric act of…

Life as Performance Art

Life as Performance Art

Editorial StaffJul 17, 20244 min read

Another “Old” in the grocery checkout lane ahead of me asked the clerk, “Is this the airport?”“What do you mean?” she asked, baffled.“I’d expect to pay this much for a bottle of water there, but not here,” he said.She rolled…