by Sharon Kennedy A couple of years ago, I was watching a television program and the guest was former secretary of state, the late Madeleine Albright. She said something about the absurd becoming accepted as “normal” in today’s politics. Anyone who survived the past six years with their intelligence intact…
By Sharon M. KennedyMom often told me that with all the dental work in her mouth she was worth more dead than alive. I used to laugh when she said that, but now I understand. I’m nearing an age when I’m deciding what to do with my assets, and I’ve…
Beaver dam — Front door I’ll make this short. Everyone in the U.P. is complaining about the heat as they sit in their air-conditioned homes, ride in their air-conditioned cars, or dine at their favorite air-conditioned restaurants. Consider yourselves lucky. You could be as busy as the Yooper beavers who…
Trump called on his supporters to send their contributions directly to his own committees in his first speech since leaving office. That call puts Trump at odds with the Republican Party’s existing political organizations, including the Republican National Committee and the party’s congressional campaign arms. Fake news, alternative facts, media…
With the Supreme Court’s recent ruling regarding Roe v. Wade, it caused me to remember the summer I heard about newborns referred to as “Thalidomide babies.” I was quite young, perhaps just in my teens, when newscasters told of infants born with life-threatening birth defects. I recall sitting at our…
by Sharon M. Kennedy A long time ago I watched a documentary that compared the eating habits of rats to humans. Rats were given a breakfast choice between apples and donuts. In every case, the rats chose the donuts. That may sound disgusting if you’re enjoying your breakfast, but I’m…
by Sharon M. Kennedy It was the Fourth of July, 1958, and my sister kept feeding the woodstove chunks of maple and birch until the kitchen was so hot you could have fried an egg on the floor. The kitchen was always hot in those days because the woodstove was…
By Sharon M. Kennedy Author’s Note: This was the last “Opinion” I wrote for the Bay Mills News, a monthly newspaper in Brimley, MI that ran my opinion pieces for years. When I submitted this a couple of weeks prior to the 2020 election, I told the editor I simply…
by Sharon M. Kennedy A number of years ago, a good buddy of mine from Grand Marais stopped by for a few minutes on his way to a friend’s house. He had spent a miserable night in Newberry and driven through blinding rain on M-28 which put him in a…
by Sharon M. Kennedy Microwave ovens are as common in kitchens of today as flies were in kitchens of yesterday. The convenience of such an electronic device cannot be denied. It’s reported they use less energy than a stovetop or regular oven. They take mere seconds to reheat a beverage…
Life void of rules would be a chaotic mess. Just ask Mr. Robert. According to him, “The object of Rules of Order is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work for which it was designed.” Obviously, members of Congress have never read his book, but I won’t address that…
My desk calendar tells me today is the first day of summer. It’s been a long time coming to the eastern end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With temperatures dipping to 30 then rising to 80 within a few hours, most residents wondered if summer would ever get here and stick…
It’s been 39 years since we lost Dad. Some folks say a year is enough to mourn, but mourning is nothing compared to the memories. They never go away. They just creep into a far corner of your mind and wait until you grab a torn shirt hanging on a…
This article appeared once in the Brimley High School newspaper in the 1960s. Columnist Ann Landers has said it originally appeared in the Stars & Stripes newspaper, a US Armed Forces publication. Reprints have appeared in Dear Abby and many other syndicated columns. Stew Consentino, a Viet Nam vet, simply…
by Sharon M. Kennedy If your kitchen table is like mine, it grows stuff. No matter how hard I try to keep it tidy, it refuses to cooperate. Unopened mail, yesterday’s newspaper, Avon brochures, magazines, bills, cookbooks, condiments, and miscellaneous items litter without the slightest apology. My morning table might…
By Sharon M. Kennedy Today’s kids have no idea what it’s like to pound the keys of a manual typewriter. They’ve never heard the sharp ding announcing the approach of the right margin, and they’ve certainly never gotten their fingers black or red while untangling a wayward ribbon. They know…
by Sharon M. Kennedy Recently I was talking with a writer friend, Jill Brumwell, who spends much of the summer at her home on Drummond Island. She’s one of those gals who has the innate ability to make people laugh without even trying. She cracks me up with some of…
by Sharon M. Kennedy The summer of 1960 must have been slow and boring. I didn’t have any friends on the Brimley sideroad. I was too old to play with dolls and too young to appreciate the music of Elvis. I had stopped keeping an account of our daily activities…
by Sharon M. Kennedy Yard sale time is here. I can’t wait to spend the change I’ve been saving all winter to purchase stuff I don’t need and will most likely never use. If you’re like me, you rarely leave a sale empty-handed. The thrill of rummaging through junk belonging…
by Sharon M. Kennedy When I was a youngster, the kitchen radio was always tuned to the only American station we could get during the daytime, WSOO-AM. I remember trying to dance to the music of Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, Red Foley, and lots of other country singers. Whenever the…
The first time I invited George Mallus (aka Yorgo the Greek, aka “Guy” from my newspaper columns) to my parents’ farm in Brimley, he thought he was on the set of The Waltons. George was a product of the city, having been born and raised in the Detroit area. He…
By Sharon M. Kennedy Seventy-five years ago today I came into this madhouse we call the world. Mom used to say it was a “beautiful spring morning” and although Dad would have welcomed a son, he settled for me. I looked just like him. I was going to post a…
by Sharon M. Kennedy Uncle Steve’s manual ride circa 1940s Around this time of year, teens are anxious to develop their driving skills and take to the road with their instructors. Unlike the old days, we all know when a new driver is approaching due to the large Driver’s Training…
by Sharon M. Kennedy When you can’t find what you’re looking for, check the jumbled mess in your kitchen junk drawer. We all have one, that special drawer where we throw things when we don’t know where else to put them. Mine is stuffed with assorted lids, rubber bands, twisty…
By Sharon M. Kennedy How’s your New Year’s weight loss resolution going? I hope you’re having better luck than I am. Being overweight was something I never paid much attention to because I was always thin. When I was a kid, dresses hung on me like rags on a clothesline….
