I didn’t know Kerry Hutchins, but her death has touched me deeply, as it will you. Watching this video will make you all too aware of how precious the gift of life is. The young mother from the west side of the state died Saturday at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann...
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The Sibley Street reconstruction project is nearly done in the southwest quadrant of Howell, and I’m excited that my neighborhood won’t have to go without the current street ornament du jour any longer. Yes, dear reader, my neighborhood is welcoming its very own teeny, tiny roundabout. One of my neighbors suggests we call it...
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In response to an urgent request from the Italian government, the members of the Brighton City Council who voted to move the community’s famous “Decision Pending” sculpture (aka, “Ugly Naked Guy”) are scheduled to board a flight to Florence later this week. Their mission? Assist the Italian government in its efforts to move the...
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UPDATE: City of Howell suspends a portion of its noise ordinance on Monday, which allows Joseph Flanders to resume performing in front of the Dairy Queen (http://www.whmi.com/). I am one of those people who firmly believes that music makes the world go ’round. Whether it’s recorded or live, professional or amateur, there’s something about...
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While I know emergency responders had their hands full Tuesday night with the overturned semi and hazmat cleanup on I-96, how difficult would have been to have someone or something posted at the Exit 137/D-19 entrance to the freeway, directing eastbounders off and keeping anyone else from getting on? Keep in mind, there is...
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It was a hot August morning, and I was standing with my sister somewhere on the north side of Grand River Avenue near the Main Four in downtown Howell, each of us wearing a toddler nephew on our shoulders to afford them a view of the Melon Festival Parade. Things went well until the...
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Steven Slater made one of the most magnificent employment exits in history. For those of you who haven’t been in contact with the world these past couple days, I’ll let the New York Times recap Monday’s incident aboard a Jet Blue flight: Mr. Slater instructed the person to remain seated. The passenger defied him....
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I was living in my parents’ basement, waitressing, attending college part-time, flat broke and in need of transportation. My parents, desperate to get me on the road out of their basement, offered to take the room and board I had paid them over the summer to buy me a car. My dad talked to...
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I never thought I’d see my 11-year-old kid “vogue-ing,” but there he was, on stage no less, dressed in basic black from his hi-tops to his T-shirt, in homage to the iconic Madonna video. As well as vogue-ing, he was having a great time, surrounded by a gang of similarly dressed kids about his...
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Note: This piece was originally published on Open Salon on Oct. 19, 2009. In light of the rebirth of LivingstonTalk.com, it seemed fitting to reprint it here. I found myself having to explain to my son the difference between being “fired” and being “laid off” after I lost my job on April Fools Day....
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