Brunch with Bridge

DIVIDED LOYALTIES: Live in Michigan, but root for Green Bay? You must be a Yooper. (Photo by Flickr user Mike Morbeck; used under Creative Commons license) If you live in the Upper Peninsula and fly a booger-green and pus-yellow flag from your house, please realize you are grossing us out. And you should move. Back […]

OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Chandra Moore is one African-American entrepreneur taking advantage of Detroit’s welcoming climate for new business. (Courtesy photo) Gerald Watson plans on hosting a competition he’s calling Detroit’s Next Executive Chef at Mo’ Betta Blues, his new restaurant and club. The competition, modeled after similar shows on cable television, is part of the […]

MERRY CHRISMUKKAH! This vintage menorah shaped like a Christmas tree is just right for an interfaith home. (Courtesy photo) According to my parents, I’m the daughter of a Reform Jewish mom from Brooklyn and a nondenominational Christian dad from Battle Creek. We had menorahs and a Christmas tree in our home. According to Beliefnet’s interesting […]

OLD PROBLEMS: Some of the emergency manager’s actions might not be necessary if earlier administrations and councils had acted sooner. There has been tremendous pushback on several actions by or taken as a result of the emergency manager’s office in Detroit. The argument here isn’t whether these things are good, being done the right way […]

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU: How you feel about no-fault auto insurance reform might depend on whether you’ve ever been involved in a serious accident. (Photo by Flickr user Lance McCord; used under Creative Commons license) A few years ago I found myself sitting in the back seat of a burning Jeep, stunned and not […]

ROOTLESS U.: These hallowed halls may lead to the world, but they also contribute to the fracturing of communities. (Photo by Flickr user Bill Couch; used under Creative Commons license) As the cost of college continues to rise, the value of a college education, considered economically, will undergo greater scrutiny. While college graduates provide the […]

ONE STATE, DIVIDED: The view from on high doesn’t match the one from the ground, where too often Michigan residents aren’t focused on helping the state move forward. My happiest moment at 30,000 feet was in 2006 when I saw the Detroit River announce the end of my international flight and my return to Michigan. […]

A RICH LIFE: Anita Betzen fled two European nations but never let setbacks quench her love of life. (Courtesy photo) Next week brings Halloween, generally seen only from a secular perspective. But for Christians, Halloween is also the Vigil of the Feast of All Saints (Nov. 1), followed by the Feast of All Souls on […]

WORTH A VISIT: Washington D.C. may be a ghost town in a government shutdown, but they left a few lights on, and Nature Conservancy staff and volunteers are glad they did. (Photo by Flickr user Kevin Burkett; used under Creative Commons license) By the time you read this, let’s hope the federal government shutdown is […]

PALACE IN THE POPPLE: Inside sits a man composing poetry. Or maybe just a few raccoons. (Photo by Flickr user Charles Dawley; used under Creative Commons license) I don’t keep an archery hunting journal, but if I did, a typical edition would read like this: Oct. 1: Opening Day. Warm; light south wind. In my […]