Column: Through the past brightly, Aug. 29
Scotland. Alba. Caledonia. Kinrick o' Scotland. Land of the Scoti, as the Romans knew it, and a place many members of the Negus clan call home.
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Guest column: Patients do not have to choose between treating pain and preventing opioid addiction
As a physician anesthesiologist, I see patients every day who face opioid use disorder. It...
Guest column: When college access grows, Michigan communities reap the benefits
For decades, college has been — and continues to be — the most reliable path...
Column: Through the past brightly, Aug. 22
Dang it. It's dinner time on a Tuesday night, I'm hungry and I'm a day...
Column: The avarice of socialism
Working in the literary reference book salt mines many decades ago, I recall taking 15-minute...
Through the past brightly: Aug. 15
Sometimes I feel Sometimes I feel Like I've been Tied to the whipping post Tied...
Column: Building a spire without foundations
Back in the day, students were required to read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies....
The MacBook Neo is my new favorite Apple Mac. What do others think?
We checked in with an 87-year-old St. Paulite and four Mac experts to see what...
Adapters, monitors, mouse: Key gear to go with your MacBook Neo
Boost your desk productivity with external monitors, or go on the road with a stand,...
Column: Through the past brightly, Aug. 8
If a virulent dayglow toadstool and a lumbering Pontiac station wagon, couldn't snuff the life...
Column: Take me home, Lonesome Rhodes
As this fish wrap hits doorsteps, newspaper boxes, and digital foofaraw, our state’s primary is...
Column: Through the past brightly, Aug. 1
I'm a couple days on the good side of my deadline, just the same, my...
Column: Loathsome Rhodes
Loathsome is a very strong word, conjuring another word sometimes considered synonymous, hate. In truth,...
Column: Roads, docks, and trails keep Michigan’s outdoor economy moving
At dusk, an RV parked near a Michigan lakeshore can tell the story of a...
Column: Through the past brightly, July 25
Most of my past has been pretty darn, bright, hence the title. That said, I...
Ken Morris: One new project. A multitude of opportunities.
Locally, the Mackinac Bridge is just one of the modern marvels that has helped make...
Column: Odious, Canada!
One week into the Air Quality Alert, wrought by our Canadian neighbors’ inability to adequately...
Column: Through the past brightly, July 18
Desperation has not yet set in. I still have a day and a half before...
Column: Fundamentals of reading
Reading – m-m-m-my generation was told by the animated Disney Pinocchio, based on a literary...
Column: Through the past brightly
Coming of age in the '60s was pretty trippy (no pun intended—well, OK, it was...
Column: SCOTUS’ decision on Mt. Pleasant property rights case
Playwright, screenwriter, and director David Mamet might’ve said it best in The Spanish Prisoner. The...
Column: BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month: Understanding disparities and moving toward action
The month of July is recognized as BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month. Originally established in...
Column: Through the past brightly, July 4
Well this is the big day, so, Happy 250th Birthday, America. I turned 75 yesterday...
Column: 1776 vs. 2026
Two hundred and 50 years ago, self-evident truths meant something. Today, for some, things appear...
Column: Spirits of ’76 and otherwise kindred
Happy 250th birthday, America! I’m also celebrating 50 years of ink-stained wretchery in the very...
Column: Through the past brightly, June 27
When I lived in upstate New York, I was surrounded by quality trout streams and...
Column: The anti-socialists strike back
Those of a certain age – meaning roughly 65 or older – will recall the...
Column: The Kinks and Kirk’s preservation of the Village Green
“Preserving the old ways from being abused/Protecting the new ways for me and for you/What...
Column: And now a word from the other side
President Trump and Vice President Vance spent most of last week trying to convince Americans...
Column: Through the past brightly, June 20
Baseball will break your heart. It's also the greatest game ever invented.
Column: Don’t follow leaders revisited
The week leading up to Father’s Day is upon us, so I’d like to wish...
Column: Is removal of Trump’s name from Kennedy Center a metaphor?
In what could be a metaphor for things to come, workers removed President Trump’s name...
Column: Through the past brightly, June 13
Because my wife has a thing for cowboys. Let's just say there were at least...
Column: The ‘60 Minutes’ controversy
The late broadcast journalist David Brinkley once observed: “Objectivity is impossible to normal human behavior....
Column: Don’t follow leaders
Bob Dylan nailed it when, in 1965, he instructed us to avoid following leaders and...
Column: Through the past brightly, June 6
Old people are nothing if not nostalgic and that goes double for yours truly. I...
Column: Will this be the unhappy American birthday?
In one month, the United States will observe its 250th birthday. It is shaping up...
Column: Chicken littles come out of their caves
“Well, at least the fella stood behind his words by using a real name,” was...
Column: Through the past brightly, May 30
When we left off last week I was explaining how I had come to revere...
Column: Kicking against the chicken littles
Over the past few days, we celebrated Bob Dylan’s 85th birthday and mourned the loss...
Column: Hey, America: Stop complaining
Whatever the outcome of the “deal, or no deal” scenario with Iran, the public attitude...
Column: Through the past brightly, May 23
I probably watch "The Lone Ranger" now just as often as I did when I...
Column: Being wrong means never having to say ‘sorry’
It’s so easy and comfortable being a liberal. You never have to admit you’re wrong...
Column: Potboilers, mentors and literary passions
The first real days of spring bring with them a yearning to throw aside all...
Column: Through the past brightly, May 16
See what I did there? I'm writing this on Mother's Day and tying it in...
Column: Feeding the government pig
It’s the time when Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) releases its annual “Congressional Pig Book...
Column: A poke in the CBS ‘Eye’
A retransmission dispute between my cable carrier and CBS was recently resolved, allowing my wife...
Walker: A poke in the CBS ‘Eye’
A retransmission dispute between my cable carrier and CBS was recently resolved, allowing my wife...
Through the Past Brightly: May 9
Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I...
Column: Bend-Ghazi and Biden bamboozlery
Oh, the contortions of the Biden administration! During which the Democratic lackeys bent, twisted, flexed,...
Column: Who is monitoring the debt?
People of a certain age will recall a lyric from the Tennessee Ernie Ford song...
Column: Without stigma, mental health care becomes simply health care
Each May across the U.S., we observe Mental Health Awareness Month to educate the public,...
Column: Through the past brightly, May 2
If you have become tired of listening to me prattle on about how professional, how...
Signs of economic instability emerge in one of Michigan’s wealthiest counties
Understanding these divides we've found is key to making sense of the region’s broader challenges,...
Guest column: Here’s a real path to ending the war with Iran
With initial peace talks failing and President Trump imposing a blockade on Iranian ports, the...
Column: Unmasking Jocelyn Benson’s SPLC
The appeal to authority is known as one of many rhetorical fallacies. Not coincidentally, the...
Column: Through the past brightly, April 25
Childhood is a magical time in our lives when anything and everything seems possible—that a...
Column: A ‘Historic’ ESG crackdown that changes little
Vanguard, one of the country’s largest asset management firms, has settled a lawsuit brought by...
Column: Trump at the correspondents’ dinner
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is usually a predictable affair. Journalists and celebrities gather to...
Column: AI giving young people a shot at the American dream
Graduation season is fast approaching, and for U.S. workers, especially young people and new college...
Column: The Purple-American Bund
In other words, our status quo is yesterday’s – and probably tomorrow’s – status quo....
Guest column: American Muslims don’t need to defend our existence
The journey of my prayer rug reflects my own as a Muslim American. It has...
Letters to The Editor: Expanding the National Firefighter Registry Participation to better reflect cancer risk
For countless civilian and military personnel in Michigan, firefighting transcends the conventional duties of battling...
Column: Through the past brightly, April 18
Who knows why I love baseball so much? Maybe it's because while I played football...
Column: Don’t let AI get away without helping you: Iterate
I haven’t had a good relationship with the Age of Computing. I don’t understand computers,...
Column: Heretics and blasphemers
One feature of AI is its too common use to embellish or outright lie about...
Column: Through the past brightly, April 11
No fishing stories, motorcycle tales or fretting about neo-fascist stoats massing on the perimeter this...
Column: What do Artemis II and socialism have in common?
Watching the enthusiasm, especially among people younger than me, over the Artemis II mission around...
Column: Politics and herd mentality
Left-of-center arrogance presupposes that there exists no rationally relevant alternative point of view. No debate...
Column: Through the past brightly, April 4
If there are any soulless commies out there who are tired of reading about fishing,...
Column: Easter during wartime, Gascoyne edition
By the time this fish wrap hits doorsteps, it’ll be Holy Thursday. So let me...
Column: Debunking the lone wolf ‘myth’
Since the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, government officials have said their greatest fear is...
Column: Through the past brightly, March 28
Ah yes, trout fishing in America, that's right up there with riding motorcycles as one...
Column: Fifty ways to lose your tax base
The phrase “mugged by reality” has become mainly a catchphrase for the neo-conservative branch of...
Column: Sending in the clowns
Even someone with a rudimentary understanding of economics should know that if you tax a...
Guest column: Improving clearance rates for violent crime will make Michigan safer
One summer night at her Detroit home, Leslie Hollins awoke to a strange noise coming...
Guest column: The AFFF Filing deadline closed — but most Michigan firefighters remain unrepresented
Countless firefighters in Michigan—and across the country—have spent decades handling a chemical-laden firefighting foam without...
Column: Through the past brightly, March 21
Crime-in-Italy, I've got more healthcare professionals involved in my life than Carter has pills. (WARNING...
Column: The rough beast of passionate intensity
My past two installments in this fish wrap were Baby Boomer reminiscences of the music...
Column: Through the past brightly, March 14
I've had one version of the flu or another throughout my life. I never did...
Column: Over the Blue Horizon
Long-time readers know I’m a music geek, exacerbated by the fact that I worked for...
Column: Through the past brightly, March 8
Most of my vast tens of readers know that I've enjoyed some pretty bombastic health...