On writing for pleasure

Jan 27, 2021 | Editorial

By Bill Diem Humans can do things that are optional. You can have the pleasure of painting or singing or writing poems, even if you aren’t Picasso or Prince or Amanda Gorman. When I moved to London in 1995, I tried to see a play every week, at a West End theater or...

Newberry still feels like home

Jan 14, 2021 | Editorial

By Jim Diem I’ve been listening to the “Storytime with Sterling” podcasts over the past month. They deal with all sorts of information about the history of Newberry. Everything from there was never a swimming pool in the basement of the high school, to the downtown...

Dear Beautiful America

Jan 13, 2021 | Editorial

Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears. I cried on January 6. I saw pictures of lawless people invading the beautiful, symbolic U.S. Capitol. Guns were out. A woman got killed. A shirtless rebel wearing Viking horns stood in the front of the...

Who are “we the people”?

Nov 18, 2020 | Editorial

I loved reading in the paper last week about the Michigan Historical Commission’s plans to rethink some of the state’s historical markers. The big example was the one on US-2 proclaiming that Lake Michigan, the seventh largest freshwater lake in the world, was...

Defend, but don’t divide

Nov 9, 2020 | Editorial

By Carol Stiffler In October 2013, an avalanche rumbled down onto the base camp at Mt. Everest, where travelers and climbers were camping. My aunt, Elena, was the only American there. Four people died, and 154 others, including Elena, were stranded at base camp. It...

Ode to a band teacher

Oct 23, 2020 | Editorial

By Carol Stiffler My hero has literally fallen. Mr. Bill VanEffen was my band teacher from grades six through 12 at Newberry. I adore him. He taught me how to play the trumpet, and later the French horn. He played every instrument in the room, and better than we ever...