WobblyReport

Published in the March 4 edition of the Mountain Mail. To the editor of the Mountain Mail , As a blacklisted former ski patroller (looking at you, Mt. Cooper) who later covered the river raft guide wage controversy from the perspective of local guides (costing the former and possibly current publisher of this paper a bit in the way of ad revenues—sorry not sorry) as a journalist for the Chaffee County Times before being lowkey run out of town, I salute the community members and social critics who installed art on Tenderfoot Mountain in late February . Photo by Cailey McDermott for the Mountain Mail Mayor Shore wrung his hands in the fashion of a man whose salary prevents his understanding of the problem in his face. But let's not spend too much energy attempting to cast shame on the shameless. Call it vandalism or call it what you will. The writing's on the mountain and the power is at its base. If we can climb up there and put our mark on the community's most visible...

Letter to the editor, submitted to info@northernexpress.com Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. Published in the Sept. 18 edition. Context: Workers' worth [ed. title] , published Aug. 28, 2022.

Revised letter to the editor, submitted to info@northernexpress.com Monday, July 17, 2023. On Monday, Traverse City Commissioners banned alcohol in forested areas encompassing homeless encampments around the Grand Traverse Commons. Locals may recall another time in history when alcohol was presumably banned within the Commons complex, when it was known as the Traverse City Regional Psychiatric Hospital. The Commons is now host to Left Foot Charley Winery, Pepenero/Ballaro Wine Lounge, Earthen Ales Taproom & Brewery, and several alcohol-serving restaurants. Michigan officials have effectively displaced vulnerable people into the outlying forest and in between boozy parties in the privatized facilities that used to serve those vulnerable people, they have criminalized the consumption of the same substance in the forest where the displaced now precariously reside. A move this bold should not be overlooked. I therefore propose that the discussion and passage of this ordinance be re-ena...

Originally submitted to three publications and the Township Clerk. Withdrawn from one and adapted into the two versions presented below after editors expressed exclusivity concerns. Open letter to Whitewater Township Having eagerly anticipated the reopening of Lossie Road Nature Trail , I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Whitewater Township Board of Trustees and Parks and Recreation Commission for seeing to the project. Many downed trees had to be cleared in difficult, wetland terrain. After jogging the trail several times, I have encountered a couple areas near the west end of the trail that are flooded in most weather conditions and one small tree is down across the trail (A). The trail remains accessible to hikers and runners, if typically soggy. Of more immediate concern is an area not far from the eastern trailhead (B). There, someone seems to have placed rifle targets on the south side of the trail, across from an open field on the north side of the trail. I c...

Letter to the editor, submitted to info@northernexpress.com Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Update: published Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. "Are northern Michigan workers being paid what they're worth?" a recent Express article asks. Sources included the Networks Northwest Chief Program Officer, the CEO of Traverse Connect and the president of the Northern Lakes Economic Alliance.  Workers being paid less than we are worth are easy to find. Please talk with us for your newspaper articles. Thank you,  [WobblyReporter]

This was not submitted for publication and is personal correspondence. It does contain information about the possible future direction of this blog. Dad and Trout, Glad the holiday circular is going over well. The initial development was fun, working with so much more space than in years past. But as with most creative endeavors the fun gradually transformed – first to annoyance after I bought out the town's stock of 9x12" envelopes and then also the town to the south's, then to drudgery as I meticulously folded each unit in half and inserted into envelopes, then to supreme frustration as I tried to interface various computers with the office printer and the address label sheets that caused it to choke repeatedly, and finally to the anxiety that attends a near lynching when, on an unassuming Saturday morning, I dumped well over 100 envelopes in front of the sole clerk at the local post office and caused a rather impressive backup. I offered some time back to work for their...