Pity the poor English major, who must not only suffer the abuses of postmodern textural analyses in senior seminars but the Thanksgiving-table cries of their relatives: But what are you going to do with that degree? You can discuss comp lit with the passengers in that taxi you’ll be driving. But hold on a bit, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Redistricting poll is no triumph
Michiganvoters want a nonpartisan commission to take charge of drawing election lines in the state — a job now tightly in the grip of the Legislature. That’s the message the Michigan Redistricting Collaborative is trumpeting from a new poll it commissioned of statewide voters. (Note: The Center for Michigan, Bridge Magazine’s parent, is a member […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Criticism mounts against Michigan Works
Jacora Seymore needs a job. Larry Harb needs an employee. Both have tried meeting their needs — so far without success — through the Michigan Works program, the network of agencies charged with matching Michigan’s unemployed with employers. Seymore, a single mother, who receives public assistance to support her two young daughters, fills out job […]
Posted inSuccess
Fencer helps Detroit youth parry problems
Keith Carr, 16, doesn’t talk like most of the other boys at Advance Technology Academy in Dearborn. He uses such words as “en garde” and “marche” and “balestra” – all terms he’s learned as a promising fencer. Athletically built with a wide smile, the high school junior says he hopes to fence in college, where […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Library specialists fear dwindling school ranks
It used to be that fifth-grade teacher Lisa Hudson could count on the school librarian at any time in her Walled Lake Schools elementary building. He shelved and checked out books, helped students select books he knew they would like and set up educational displays in the library – rockets, for example, to support other […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Michigan needs productive 'midlife crisis'
“Today, the country is middle-aged but self-indulgent. Bad habits have accumulated. Interest groups have emerged to protect the status quo. The job is to restore old disciplines, strip away decaying structures and reform the welfare state. The country needs a productive midlife crisis” — David Brooks, New York Times columnist. For the past three years, the New Year […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Guest column: Communities should find tax-spend 'niche'
By Mark Skidmore/Michigan State University Consumers instinctively look for bargains — quality products at a good price. We purchase the items that offer the right combination of price and quality we desire. This principle also hold true when we look for a place to live. Potential residents “shop” for the right mix of quality and […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Chronicle publisher stood for right things
News that Michigan Chronicle Publisher Sam Logan Jr. had passed away was a real shock to everybody who knew him. Sam was so energetic, so engaged, so filled with ideas and plans that no one ever thought he might leave us at such a premature time. He was a towering icon, not only to the African-American […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
There's gold – $10, anyway – in them rodents
A mini-boom in one of the oldest businesses in Michigan is offering at least a few Upper Peninsula entrepreneurs a windfall — if you can define a fur trapper as an entrepreneur. (Tramp for hours through freezing swamps to maintain a trapline? Works for me.) The Wall Street Journal visited Calumet in the U.P. to […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Mitten tussle warms map fan's heart
Michigan and Wisconsin have been tussling over the use of the term “mitten” to describe geography. Michigan long has explained its shape (at least for the Lower Peninsula) as a mitten. Wisconsin recently decided it liked the mitten idea and started promoting the idea on its TravelWisconsin site. In no surprise, plenty of Michiganians find […]