Brunch with Bridge

ANOTHER YEAR’S SUNSET: Long winter twilights prompt memories of a life’s many Christmases. (Photo by Flickr user Photojo2005; used under Creative Commons license) The doe and her two yearlings brought company during the night. When I woke to reload the woodstove, their clan had gathered in the moonlight outside the bedroom window. An urban friend […]

DO THE HUSTLE: Parents and children line up to dance during last year’s June Day celebration at the North Rosedale Park Community House. (Courtesy photo) Reinvigorating Detroit isn’t all about clearing blighted neighborhoods, fighting crime and wondering where the next job is coming from. Not to mention working through an unprecedented civic bankruptcy. Sometimes it’s […]

THE THOUGHT COUNTS: If it’s the season of giving, you can give to anyone. (Courtesy photo) Christmas 2009 was shaping up to be a sad one. My partner’s mom died of ovarian cancer in June of that year; we’d lost her dad to pancreatic cancer three years earlier. For Betsy and her two sisters, it […]

UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU: Americans are comfortable with a level of military propaganda that would be disconcerting coming from another country. (Photo by Flickr user msmail; used under Creative Commons license) Football abounds in war metaphors. Bo Schembechler was often referred to as “the General.” Players think of themselves as soldiers, risking body and life […]

A STACKED DECK? When Indian tribes take their business to the U.S. Supreme Court, they rarely like the outcome. (Photo by Flickr user Rishad Daroowala; used under Creative Commons license) Maybe the best way to understand how a tiny tribal slot casino came to hold the fate of the nation’s tribal gaming under its little […]

NEW SPIRIT, NEW REALITIES: The incoming Detroit City Council is unique in many ways, and members need to approach their jobs differently, too. (Photo by Flickr user Jason Mrachina; used under Creative Commons license) In spite of the tumultuous events surrounding Detroit city government, the reality of a newly elected mayor and city council come […]

HERE COMES EVERYBODY: Conservative Catholics occupy many high-profile positions in our society, but what exactly is the Catholic part all about? (Photo by Flickr user Jim Forest; used under Creative Commons license) I chafe when the label “conservative” is applied to me. I am not embarrassed to be called a conservative or associated with its […]

‘RAPE INSURANCE?’ A voter petition likely to be approved by the legislature will require Michigan women to purchase a separate insurance rider, should she need an abortion — no matter the circumstances. (Photo by Flickr user Clinic Escort; used under Creative Commons license) I never plan to have an abortion. But then, I never plan […]

TIME TO SHOP: The relaxed postprandial Thanksgiving is slowly yielding to retail madness. (Photo by Flickr user Rene Schwietzke; used under Creative Commons license) The problem with Thanksgiving Day has always boiled down to this: How do you commercially exploit a holiday that celebrates gratitude? What’s the trick for getting people counting their blessings to […]

FRUITS OF FARMING: Michigan celebrates its agricultural richness in sculpture in Ludington, alongside what makes it possible – abundant freshwater. (Photo by Flickr user Michigan Municipal League; used under Creative Commons license) This is a bit of a different take on a Thanksgiving column. While I appreciate the writers who inspire us to pause, reflect […]