Brunch with Bridge

In need of a midwinter burst of inspiration? Robin Miner-Swartz found hers at a TEDx event. The fourth 2014 TEDxLansing runs Feb. 28, and just might bring an early spring to your creative energies.

Michigan residents are uneasily accepting the idea of marijuana being used as medicine by adults. But what about children?

In Michigan, it’s still perfectly legal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. (Photo by Flickr user ep_jhu; used under Creative Commons license) A hot air balloon is aloft over Lansing. Various GOP corners have rebuked Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema for two weeks about inflammatory remarks he posted online. The latest comments to […]

Want a closer neighborhood? Ditch the expensive sidewalk snowplow and clear your own walks. And your neighbors’. (Photo by Flickr user Simon Law; used under Creative Commons license) It comes in the night, disrupts our sleep, blocks the driveway and rips the grass, and leaves in its wake what it touches at its point. I […]

Everybody loves a festival at Hart Plaza. The trash? Eh, someone else’s problem. (Photo by Flickr user ario_; used under Creative Commons license) For some reason, expectations for Detroit were high during Gov. Rick Snyder’s fourth State of the State address. With Detroit’s looming money problems, there was anticipation – or blind hope – that […]

BIG LAKES, COOL CITIES: What does the coveted millennial generation want from its home state? (Photo by Flickr user Andrew McFarlane; used under Creative Commons license0 How are those resolutions coming? Though we may be knee-deep into 2014 if you’re counting in attempted trips to the gym, in reality, it’s still the early in a […]

BUT IS IT LOCAL? It’s easy to buy local beer or produce. But do we have an obligation to patronize other local business? (Photo courtesy of Founders Brewing Co.) I’m sitting at home sipping my locally brewed Founders Backwoods Bastard – the best beer I’ve ever had. I’ve just finished eating a dinner made with […]

SPACE INVADERS: Lake Michigan’s dunes comprise the largest freshwater system in the world, which means the battle against invasive plant species requires every set of informed eyes we can muster. (Photo by Flickr user Ken Bosma; used under Creative Commons license) I love winter for a lot of reasons – the beauty of snow, going […]

COLD-WATER CATCH: Ice fishing is one of Michigan’s most popular winter sports, but one that is fraught with peril. (Photo by Flickr user Corvair Owner; used under Creative Commons license) I must have been 6 or 7 – old enough to go ice fishing with my father, but small enough to fly over four feet […]

NO PLACE LIKE PARADISE: Author Steve Hamilton is a Detroit native, but chose the Upper Peninsula as the setting for his successful crime series. (Photo by Julia Hamilton) Steve Hamilton is a bestselling author who locates his crime stories not in the big city, but in the small town of Paradise, Mich., a dot on […]