Marianne Udow-Phillips is the director of the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation, a nonpartisan health policy center based at the University of Michigan with a mission to promote evidence-based care delivery, improve population health and expand access to care. About six months after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in 2010, our Center […]
Guest Commentary
At Bridge, we believe in listening to voices from all over our state. Got something to say? Contact us and join the conversation (details below)
How to submit a Guest Commentary
What to know:
Bridge welcomes a diversity of voices and perspectives from readers on issues important to Michigan. Guest commentaries reflect the views of the author(s), and are independent of the nonpartisan, fact-driven reporting of Bridge’s newsroom staff.
Commentaries must be the author’s original work and preferably will not have appeared first in other publications. Bridge reserves the right to decline submissions at our discretion.
We reserve the right to edit commentary for grammar, clarity, brevity or to address legal or factual concerns. We may offer editing suggestions, but in the service of making your work more accessible, not to alter your views.
We do not pay for guest commentary.
Here are some guidelines:
- Columns are usually 500-700 words
- They generally focus on a Michigan topic or policy and should avoid ad hominem attacks
- The more direct, distinct and/or intimate your perspective, the more effective your column will be
- The best columns do more than identify problems; they also offer solutions and facts to back them up
- Please include a one- or two-sentence bio, including the writer’s organization or relevant background.
- Authors must show their work, by backing up facts with links to reports or studies
- Bridge does not publish self-promotional columns or candidate endorsements
- Send a good quality, large headshot of the writer(s) as an attachment
- We also ask that, in return for publishing a guest commentary, the author(s) and their organizations generously promote the link to the published column through your Facebook, Twitter and other social or professional networks.
That’s about it. Keep the writing clear, conversational and free of jargon, and sell our smart and receptive readership on the argument you are trying to make.
Who to contact:
Email your submission or idea to guestcommentary@bridgemi.com. Please briefly describe who you are and what you would like to say and put the words “guest commentary” in the email subject line.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Some schools sell themselves in silly, superficial ways
Margaret Trimer-Hartley Back to school shopping in Michigan takes on a whole new meaning in this era of free market school choice. Parents are still scouting deals on pens, pencils and backpacks, but now schools are also on the prowl for students. The gimmicks they’re using borrow the best—and the worst— from retail. In the […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Northern Michigan residents “ho hum” over Detroit’s bankruptcy.
Ask just about any northern Michigander about Detroit’s bankruptcy and they’ll tell you much the same—should have happened 20 years ago. After moving here some 41 years ago from Lansing myself and eventually becoming the editor and publisher of the Petoskey News-Review, I have found the attitude towards Detroit hasn’t changed much. Probably the strongest […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Don’t mess with the Great Lakes
In a surprising development, in late July a Congressional committee acted like, well, thoughtful, rational legislators. Why? Six words: Don’t mess with the Great Lakes. Here’s the story. First came behavior we’ve come to expect from the U.S. House of Represenatives. An appropriations subcommittee — which has primary responsibility for determining Great Lakes funding levels […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Changing course toward more effective public schools
By the beginning of fourth grade, the point at which we can accurately predict long-term learning outcomes, only 33 percent of American children are at proficient reading levels. Only 17 percent of children who are eligible for free or reduced lunch are at proficient reading levels. The vast majority of the non-proficient readers are unlikely […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Economics, not politics, must drive climate solutions
Monica Martinez, founder and CEO of Ruben Strategy Group LLC By Monica Martinez Michigan businesses and families are constantly faced with budget choices and investment decisions. At the same time our nation, indeed the world, has a desire to recycle, be efficient, and practice “green” efforts. But the reality is we have been and will […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Some policies work against economies of scale in K-12 education
Brendan Walsh is former treasurer of the Grosse Pointe School Board and maintains a blog on school policy issues at www.brendanwalsh.us. By Brendan Walsh An analysis of statewide financial data would support State Superintendent of Schools Mike Flanagan’s claim that consolidating the administration of Michigan’s K-12 school districts “would save millions of dollars minimally.” What […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Michigan needs ‘master teachers’ who exhibit excellence, not mediocrity
Amber Arellano is the executive director at the Education Trust-Midwest, a non-partisan research and advocacy group working to raise achievement for all Michigan students. Imagine you are a Michigan public high school math teacher. A 15-year veteran, for years your students have learned nearly twice as much as students in your colleagues’ classrooms across […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Bridge Magazine apologizes to Speaker Jase Bolger
Dear Bridge Readers, This letter is a public apology to Jase Bolger, Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives. We are apologizing for poor judgment in the handling of a recent guest column Mr. Bolger published in Bridge. Mr. Bolger has not formally requested this apology. But, in the final analysis, we think we owe […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
America is doing great job in creating low-skill workers
(Bridge archive photo/Sam Zomer) If you wanted to create a system that limits educational options and consigns the vast majority of poor American children to continue to live in poverty, just look around you. Whether you live in urban or rural America, the results of an educational design which cripples young learners who are […]