Ren Brabenec | Author
We Speak for the Water
Aug. 17, 2024
One need only glance at a map to understand Michigan’s unique connection to water. The state’s legal boundaries extend far into Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, giving the Great Lakes State 40,000 square miles of water, 40 percent of the state’s total “land&rdq...
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Mashup Rock & Roll Musical Wants to "Celebrate and Question" Society
Aug. 3, 2024
Weird, wacky, inclusive, creative, committed, and collaborative. Describing Mashup Rock & Roll Musical in a sentence is no small feat, as the organization has created a unique and irreverent theater experience that would leave even the most conservative Broadway critic super-glued to ...
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The Women Rangers of Isle Royale
June 22, 2024
John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt. Everett Townsend and Walter Fry. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Richard Proenneke, and Ansel Adams. Since the inception of the national parks in the late 1800s, the men who carried the banner of wilderness preservation also wrote the history of their movement...
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Free Books for Every Child
June 22, 2024
Dolly Parton has enjoyed the title “The Queen of Country Music” for decades, but she also goes by another name. Young people worldwide know her as “The Book Lady” because Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) has mailed free books to millions of children ...
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Supporting Small and Doing Right
June 1, 2024
May 18, 2024, marked the 10th anniversary of the opening of My Secret Stash, Traverse City’s retail hub for all things Pride. We caught up with Karen Roofe, owner and founder of My Secret Stash (MSS), to talk about the last 10 years, the next 10 years, and what it means to create a ...
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Tracking the U.P. Wolf
May 18, 2024
The term “unforgettable” has lost some of its significance due to overuse in a modern-day culture where corporate advertising labels everything from a new automobile to body wash as “unforgettable.” But unforgettable moments in life do still happen. For Denise Amo,...
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Will a National Lawsuit Affect Northern Michigan Real Estate?
Feb. 10, 2024
A recent $1.8 billion real estate lawsuit made national headlines, raising the question of whether the way real estate transactions are carried out may change.
Though the suit is being appealed, the initial judgment in Sitzer v. The National Association of REALTORS® (...
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Writing in Pursuit of Meaning
Jan. 27, 2024
The human race faces infinite unknowns. Every time a question is answered and a mystery is solved, another reveals itself. And while some mysteries are new, others are questions humans have asked themselves since the dawn of civilization. What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? What...
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U.P. Winter Adventures Await
Dec. 16, 2023
How do we know that a significant part of our state is an undiscovered gem? A running joke (and statement of pride amongst Yoopers) is that, occasionally, a cable news segment, weather forecast, textbook, or even the History Channel will display a map of the United States…without t...
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A Safe and Sober Holiday Season
Nov. 18, 2023
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, at least 20 million Americans meet the criteria for a substance use disorder. That means nearly one in 10 U.S. adults struggle with drugs, alcohol, or a combination of the two.
Because addiction is widespread and can affect ...
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"Together, We Can Be Really Powerful"
Oct. 28, 2023
What started as a humble effort to create a safe space for teens in Leelanau has become a county-wide movement.
Leelanau Investing For Teens (LIFT) is an organization whose mission is “dedicated to empowering local youth to discover their strengths by investing in their evol...
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Democracy Is a Participation Sport
Oct. 7, 2023
When asked why she is optimistic about the future of American democracy, Heather Cox Richardson says the answer—for her, at least—is a simple one.
“I believe in the concept of human self-determination, and I believe that democracy is the form of government most l...
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The Generational Impact of Habitat for Humanity
Sept. 23, 2023
With prices for building materials and vacant land rising and wages barely keeping up with inflation, helping residents become homeowners has never been more challenging.
“Building materials are 40 percent more expensive today than they were just a few years ago,” says...
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How a Gun Became a Symbol of America
Sept. 9, 2023
Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson, journalists at The Wall Street Journal and authors of American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15, will take the stage for a National Writers Series conversation at the City Opera House on Tuesday, September 19, at 7pm.
The topi...
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Great Lakes, Great Movies
Sept. 2, 2023
Many northern Michigan residents are still feeling a bit forlorn about the loss of the Traverse City Film Festival. But in classic Yooper fashion, our neighbors to the north are more than willing to lend a hand and save the day. Case in point: This year’s Soo Film Festival, to be he...
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Water Knows No Borders
Aug. 19, 2023
This fall, students, entrepreneurs, and tech-savvy youths ages 18 to 35 from across the U.S. and Canada will be able to compete and collaborate in innovating tech solutions to North America’s freshwater challenges.
AquaAction, a Canadian and American nonprofit dedicated to r...
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Michigan’s Sixth Great Lake
July 29, 2023
The U.S. Geological Survey defines groundwater as “Water that exists underground in saturated zones beneath the land surface. It fills the pores and fractures in underground materials such as sand, gravel, and other rock, much the same way that water fills a sponge.” Nationall...
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The Rivers of Our River Towns
July 1, 2023
According to the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Michigan has over 76,000 miles of rivers and streams. To put that figure into perspective, if each river and stream in the Great Lakes State were connected, they’d be long enough to circle the Earth three ti...
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A Brief History of Isle Royale: The Evolution of the Least-Visited National Park
May 20, 2023
Isle Royale is the least-visited but most re-visited national park in the lower 48. How is it that a spot that receives as many visitors in a year as Yellowstone gets in a day is the most popular park to return to out of the hundreds in the country?
As w...
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Press Freedom Here and Abroad
April 29, 2023
The World Press Freedom Index assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories. In 2022, a record number of countries—28 of them—were ranked “very bad” for press freedom, including Russia, China, and Iran, as well as North Korea, which placed dead ... Read More >>