The “Mind’s-Eye View” . . .

jalp’s Columns for the Marshall Review

Started by the late Bob Doner, the Marshall Review was (from late 2001 until early 2003) an alternative to the long-standing and now jointly-owned Chronicle and Ad-Visor. Its Thursday publication date let it put out hard news on Monday night City Council and school-board meetings and other civic issues that the Ad-Visor often wouldn’t or couldn’t mention on Wednesday, and the Chronicle wouldn’t get to until Saturday. This made it better local competition on such issues for the bigger-city daily papers sold in the area.

When this forum appeared, I saw that it might offer me more of a chance to express my views on issues in more detail than in a common letter to the editor. So I sent in a long letter and asked whether I should trim it down or the paper could use it as a guest editorial. It turned out that Mr. Doner was happy enough to have my writing around to put in – and so I wrote another one . . . and another. . . . (And some regular news reports, too – but that’s another bunch of stories.)

After a few weeks, the Review turned my column into a regular feature. With some help from my mother, I came up with a title for it: “Mind’s-Eye View”. And I kept on chipping in my 700 words or so every week until the paper was bought out in March of 2003. And now, here are some of those columns again . . . a re-view of my views from my weekly “View” in the weekly Review. I hope you enjoy reading them. (Or re-reading them.) If you have questions or comments, please tell me! (NOTE: The dates shown are when I wrote the columns; the publication dates would be on the Thursdays right afterward.)

     • 12/17~18/2001: about political football – and a 2-minute drill . . .

     • 12/24~25/2001: on what it means to be the City of Hospitality . . .

     • 12/31/2001~1/1/2002: happy New (Election) Year! – and so on . . .

     • 1/5~8/2002: voting systems and methods – and sports! (the first column named “Mind’s-Eye View”)

     • 1/14/2002: where to vote in 2002 – and what for (after the 2000 Census and 2001 redistricting)

     • 1/21/2002: so what’s in the Marshall Public Schools Nickname Task Force report?

     • 1/28~30/2002: Monday’s special school-board meeting . . . by the numbers . . .

     • 2/4/2002: could the answer to clean elections be – Clean Money? . . .

     • 2/11~12/2002: CoinStar – the machine that turns 40 pounds of cash . . . into 36½ pounds of cash!

                                         (in case there are any fans of “The Great American Dream Machine” out there)

     • 2/18/2002: McCain-Feingold, Shays-Meehan, and campaign-finance reform . . . um, reform

     • 2/25~26/2002: views on McCain-Feingold/Shays-Meehan and campaign-finance laws in general,

                                         from all five Secretary of State candidates with active committees

     • 3/4~5/2002: seeing the Redskins high-school team nickname issue from the other side – the out-side . . .

     • 3/11~12/2002: my niece Katie, spring, and traditions . . .

     • 3/18~19/2002: two meetings on two sides of town (and two sides of the nickname issue) . . .

     • 3/25/2002: taking up local culture – Romeo and Juliet, etc., etc.

     • 4/1~2/2002: an Easter visit to my sister Katherine in Big Rapids

     • 4/8/2002: political correctness vs. “doing the right thing” – plus questions for school-board candidates . . .

     • 4/15/2002: where to vote in 2002 – and what for (after the 2000 Census and 2001 redistricting)

     • 4/22/2002: where to vote in 2002 – and what for (after the 2000 Census and 2001 redistricting)

     • 4/29~30/2002: where to vote in 2002 – and what for (after the 2000 Census and 2001 redistricting)

More – from May 2002 through February 2003 – coming soon . . .

home                                                                                                                  last updated:   May 11, 2010