Columns
Pat’s Bits and Pieces: Guess What – Road Trip!
As of today, we are officially on our first “road trip” in years! As you read this we should be about one-third of the way to the sunny south, where we will stay for a bit with Sister-in-Law Marlene. I’m…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorBird FluWhy is the bird flu big news? Birds have always flown. You mean avian influenza? OK, that’s different, but still What does that have to do with the price of eggs?Word’s gone viral since a second case…
Mike’s Musings: Even county governments spend unwisely: Case study, Allegan County
Our government, whether it is at the local, county, state or federal level, makes numerous decisions on how they spend taxpayers’ money. Some we can agree with, some we can’t. I would like to think with the advent of social…
Life as Performance Art
Sixty years ago a classmate said something insulting and demeaning. It left me with a choice: I could either turn his nose to 12 or tattle to the teacher. I chose the latter and right after school he turned my…
Out and About: IceBreaker, moms, and hugs
The twenty-third Annual Ice Breaker is scheduled for Saturday, February 22. The venue is the Armstrong Recreation Hall, 1015 Maple Street, in Three Rivers and is open to the public.The doors open at 6 PM for the Silent Auction Fundraiser,…
May I Walk with You? PARTICIPATION PLUS
As a lay person who “goes to mass”, it is easy for me to think that the priest prays the mass and that I am there to cooperate, say the right responses, fulfill my weekend obligation, stand, sit, and kneel…
Pat’s Bits and Pieces: February again – might as well enjoy it
Fighting with a sinus infection this week left me wondering what in the world I could write about. Besides feeling icky, it’s winter with a capital “W”, and tomorrow it will be February again, the shortest, longest month of the…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorStart Like FinnishLearning Finland is the World’s Happiest Country has plunged me into depression. By the time I pay for a 12-hour flight that will cheer me up, I’ll be too broke for a sauna, then to jump…
Mike’s Musings: Defund NGO’s, and do it now
If you’ve been watching the crisis at our southern border, you might wonder what has happened to the millions of illegal immigrants that crossed the border the last few years. Where do they go, and how are they supported you…
Life as Performance Art
By now we have all seen bleak photos from the fire zones in southern California. Thousands of homes, busi-nesses, churches and schools have been reduced to rubble.Other places have been so badly damaged they may have to be pulled down.…
Looking Out: Off sides
by Jim Whitehouse “Mom, what’s that bird?” says a boy sitting next to me on the sidelines of a futebol pitch, which I’ve been told by my Brazilian friend Sergio is the same thing as a soccer field. My beloved…
“Out and About” ‘Southern Living,’ heart health, and great truths
The population of Three Rivers is down a bit from what it was a month or two ago. The reason is because there are some folks who prefer to spend the winter months in the southern part of the United…
May I Walk with You? BLESSING IN TRAUMA
It may seem a bit ironic and even insensitive, but in speaking and doing therapy with many people, some, but not all have arrived at a place where they see the blessings they have gotten from having undergone traumatic experiences.…
Blue Star
By Scott SullivanEditorRealI like anything that starts with “real.” So real estate, Realtor, realize … the four-letter prefix gives me substance. At this stage, when so much amounts to vapor, firmament like the earth I’ll be buried in soon feels…
Life as Performance Art
Only the Olds will remember the chart above the blackboard in every fourth-grade classroom across the nation. It was the alphabet, both capitals and lower-case letters, in cursive.It was bad enough having to learn how to print; now that we…
Trump made many promises, now let’s see if he can fulfill them
Welcome to the greatest political comeback ever recorded. America has gotten the president they wanted, and Trump has chosen the cabinet he wanted, and now it’s time to get down to business and make sure the promise that were made…
Looking Out: Delicacy
by Jim Whitehouse I was moving into our new home, bit by bit, as my beloved wife Marsha was closing out our old house, 45 miles away. So far, my furniture consisted of an inflatable mattress, a lawn chair, a…
Out and About: George Carlin and the Explanation of Life
George Carlin was a comedian, who at times was someone you wouldn’t want to take your mother to see. Other times he made a lot of sense. Here are some of his more famous quotes:
Pat’s Bits and Pieces: Winter bits
Our brief un-Christmassy weather seems to be over now. With the arrival of the New Year, temperatures have dropped back to the 20s (and teens) and snow is gently falling outside.It’s pretty. I just wish it wouldn’t fall on the…
May I Walk with You: OPPOSITE OR Compliment
What is the opposite of femininity? What is the opposite of management? What is the opposite of clergy? What is the opposite of wife? What is the opposite of white? What is the opposite of democrat? How many of us…
