Colwitz's Courage, Lululemon in Town, the "Oscillation" Controversy, Buttigieg for Governor?, Marquette Nutrition's Handsome Re-do, and a $47 Million Salary
The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell
COURAGE. STRENGTH. DETERMINATION…That would be an apt description of Dr. Erin Colwitz, the Director of Choirs at NMU and the Artistic Director of the Marquette Choral Society…Two weeks after cancer surgery—a double mastectomy—she was back conducting her choirs…“I love what I do,” she tells you. “I love making music. I love the people I work with.” She conducted the Choral Society concert last week, the Marquette Symphony this weekend.
“My parents were role models for me,” she explains. “Stoic Scandinavians. You have a job and you just do it.” She also credits therapy for helping her get through life’s crises—a cancer scare for her sister when they were both young, a husband who died, an abusive relationship, and now her own cancer scare. Friends and family have also helped tremendously—along with a huge network of colleagues, students, and admirers who’ve supported her through the tough times.
Still, she pushes on, with a smile, through the pain, the discomfort, the sadness. She conducts the Beer Choir at the Ore Dock this evening (Tuesday) 7 pm, and the Marquette Choral Society Carol Singalong at St. Michaels on Friday, 5 pm…If you’ve got a job to do, you just do it.
THE BIGGEST STORY in town!!! The Queen City Running Company is now selling Lululemon products. “We just told their sales rep that we’re big on health and wellness and that we’re involved with the community,” explains Running Store co-owner Paige DuBois, “and they listened to us, and took it to a committee. And then they came back and said ‘Congratulations! You’re going to be selling Lululemon.’”…A really big deal, because Lululemon is an extraordinarily popular store for women’s activewear and casual clothes. The nearest Lululemon store is in Appleton.
DuBois and co-owner Kevin Thompson spent 15 hours last Friday setting up the new products, and opened on Saturday to a big crowd. Their Houghton store is also selling Lululemon.
Lululemon is also…uhh…expensive. Reaction on Facebook to the big announcement was both celebratory and anxious:
“Nobody tell the 14-15 year old kids…Please, I beg you!”
“Ok now, this is dangerous.”
“I will be broke when my daughter finds out!!”
A NOISY BUT slightly ill-informed outcry on social media last week over “Oscillation,” Marquette’s new interactive light and sound installation at The Commons. Local gadfly Margaret Brumm, who takes an admirable and zealous interest in local governmental affairs, posted on Facebook that Oscillation was costing the taxpayers $90,000…Outrage ensued. The problem was, it wasn’t quite factual…
The actual price for the four weeks of Oscillation is $46,000…$24,000 of that was paid through a local public art fund (not by the City Commission)…$5000 was donated by both Travel Marquette and the Downtown Development Authority…and $12,000 came from a state grant. “We wanted to bring something to this community that we’ve never seen before,” says Amelia Pruiett of Marquette’s Office of Arts and Culture. “It’s been showcased worldwide, and it’s an economic driver.”
Brumm still has a problem with it. “We don’t even own it. We’re just renting it,” she says. “We have so many local artists here. We could have opened up a competition here for them, and have them come up with something.” A fair point, but in the meantime, enjoy Oscillation and the rest of the winter lights downtown.
COULD BE AN interesting race for Michigan Governor in 2026. Incumbent Gretchen Whitmer will be term-limited…Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a nominal Democrat, has already announced his candidacy—as an Independent…On the Republican side, Mike Cox, a former Attorney General, and Tudor Dixon, a media personality, have expressed interest in running…Among the Democrats, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist have been mentioned…And then the most intriguing possibility of all: Pete Buttigieg, the current Secretary of Transportation, who will be out of a job in a month…Buttigieg moved to Traverse City with his husband a few years ago. “I haven’t made any big decisions yet about my future,” Buttigieg says.
“WE’VE BEEN JAM-PACKED,” says Chelsie Wilkinson, the Executive Director of Room at the Inn. “Last week, with the extreme weather, we opened up the dining room at the Warming Center to anyone who was sleeping outside or in their cars. We had to.” That meant 15 extra people sleeping in the dining room, along with the maximum 30 upstairs in the sleeping quarters at the homeless shelter…Room at the Inn has also opened up a separate apartment to two families during this holiday season, with the hopes of making it a permanent arrangement…
And for Christmas at the Warming Center?…“We’ll have little gifts for our guests,” Wilkinson says, “but we don’t want to make a big thing of it. The holidays are tough for homeless people.”
MARQUETTE NUTRITION’S ATTRACTIVE renovation of the old Outlanders building on West Washington Street sure looks like it’ll be a sit-down restaurant, but owner Jenna Neaves says No. At least, not now. It’ll just be a major expansion for their retail and grab n’ go products, their food preparation, and their catering services. They’re hoping to open by Spring…As for their much tinier original store on Third Street—“We want to stay there,” Neaves insists. “We love that store!” But she concedes that, somewhere down the line, they might have to look at the financials and determine whether it makes sense to operate two stores.
MAMAS, RAISE YOUR boys to be professional baseball players. Juan Soto recently signed a $765 million contract with the New York Mets. He’ll be making about $47 million a year for the next fifteen years. The average yearly income in the United States, meantime, is about $60,000. So Soto is making almost 800 times what the average American is making…Compare that to 1960 when the average income was $5600, and Mickey Mantle, the biggest Major League star, was making $67,000 a year—a mere 12 times the salary of the average American…So yeah, we’ve changed. Our values have changed.
Oh, and did we mention that a banana duct-taped to a wall recently sold for $6.2 million dollars at a Sotheby auction?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I love money. I love everything about it. I bought some pretty good stuff. Got me a $300 pair of socks. Got a fur sink. An electric dog polisher. A gasoline powered turtleneck sweater. And, of course, I bought some dumb stuff, too. “
—Steve Martin
Oh, Margaret. No. The local artists are ready to be inspired by art. If all we ever see is ourselves, we’ll never dream of anything new.
Lululemon - another thing MQT doesn't need and can't rightly afford. If parents don't want to go broke or be bothered by their kids trying to get those goods - then start teaching them better. Teach them that buying and chasing brand names simply for the sake of the name does not lead to anything good - except lining the pockets of the megacompanies that make them. Teach them quality vs. name brand, thriftiness & value vs. status and department store credit cards. It's not being cheap - it's being smart and responsible. Teach them the difference - and also learn to say "NO" to your kids. It's on you to raise them right and responsible.
I do not often agree with Margie - hell, I don't think I ever have. She has frequently prided herself on making sure the community knows just how much of a whackadoo she is for many years. But on this instance - I have to agree with her. Regardless where the money came from - and yeah, some of it did indeed come from taxpayer funds (how do you think things like grants and public art funds are paid for?) - it is money ill-spent. I 110% agree that the opportunity for local artists to develop a display should have taken precedence over... this... whatever it is.
Instead - as per usual - the city council prefers to cater more to out-of-towners bringing their influence into our small city. A grossly repeating and ever increasing pattern that has plagued our town for going on 2 decades now. Ridiculous.
Just a few short weeks ago MAT posted a nauseatingly, exhaustive article on how chic, cosmopolitan and artistic the town and its residents are. Between the liberal arts type students at the U, and the regular hazed-over gang of self-proclaimed artisans that continually bless our streets with their ripened presence - I am positive that they could have come up with an excellent, more vertically oriented display that wouldn't require you to sit on ice-cold concrete to observe and appreciate. It would have most likely been far more pertinent to the community than... whatever this is. And it sure as hell would have been a whole lot cheaper. Those now-wasted funds could have then gone to something far more useful.
Do better, MQT.