Tulip City Dispatch

 Some archetypes run deep.  There are common myths and legends that span humankind, across continents and oceans.  We, as humans, aren't very different, so there's no wonder that legends of cryptids and other unknown, unseen humanoids lurk the wilderness just out of our perception.  These tropes come up time and again, from culture to culture.  There's Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest, the Yeti in the Himalayas, El Chupacabra in the Caribbean and Central America, the Skunk Ape in the Southeast United States, the Yowie in Australia, and countless other examples around the world.  Michigan has its own spin on this legend - common, yet shockingly, individual stories about werewolves or man-sized canines.  Shockingly individual until 1987, when a local radio deejay decided to write a song about it, and the public response blew up. Steve Cook, of WTCM (a pretty poppin' country station out of Traverse City) wrote this song: The legend holds that every 10 yea...

 Hokay...so...To recap my journey, I set out last winter with a budget of $50 to assemble a complete, USGA-legal set of golf clubs, just to see what I could find in the local thriftos and secondhand stores. I got out today to play a round of 9 holes with the whole set!  The price, as played, was a follows : Bag was $3 Irons were $7 Wedge was free with  coupon Putter was $3 Driver* was $3 3 Wood* was $3 5 Hybrid was $2 For a total of $21 *I found an honest-to-goodness set of Callaway Big Bertha woods sometime after my last entry and had to buy 'em.  I've been enraptured with their advertisements since I first started reading about them as a 10 year old.  What a wacky name, eh?  Big Bertha?  So funny, for such a serious game as golf.  Then I proceeded to eat a booger or something because I was 10...or whatever the hell 10 year olds did in 1997. Check out my awesome headcovers The balls I used were old-ass Titleists that were either $4 a dozen at th...

 On Friday the 14th of May, 2021, the State Of Michigan issued the following statement: Dear Friend, For more than a year, we’ve been following the best data and science to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.  The vast majority of us have trusted the scientists and experts to keep us safe during the pandemic, and it has worked. With millions of Michiganders fully vaccinated, we can now safely and confidently take the next step to get back to normal. Today I announced the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is updating the Gatherings and Mask Order to align with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest guidance on face coverings. On Thursday, the CDC released updated guidance recommending “fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in any setting, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and wor...

 I'll open by saying that if you're expecting a gourmet burger, you're probably not looking at Burger King.  There are 1,000 other places (precisely one thousand, I counted myself) to get a higher-quality burger.  But, when you require food that is fast, cheap, and easy (you are what you eat, am I right?!?!?! ) there are a myriad of options for drive-through, franchised, processed, scientifically-engineered-to-taste-good food.  Miss me with your "fast food is trash" snobbery; this review isn't for you.  See the pizza and burger reviews for quality food. There's something about the plant-based Impossible patty that enhances all the flavors around it - the smokey char of Burger King's "flame broiled" fame sticks around more than the normal beef Whopper.  The toppings don't blend with the patty flavor either, so you can distinctly pick up the flavors of the tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, and mayonnaise.  Only the bun seemed to fade in...

Up until 2003, Lifesavers Candy was made here in Holland.  It closed down as the company moved production to Canada: https://www.deseret.com/2002/4/11/19648526/life-savers-plant-is-dying https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-mar-20-mn-33676-story.html https://www.michigandaily.com/uncategorized/life-savers-moves-us-operations-canada/ As of 2013, Haworth took over the property to use as a factory outlet store, which is reflected in Google's current results as of this writing: https://www.hollandsentinel.com/article/20131210/NEWS/131219986 But, I'd like to explore their unique shape...and specifically, the reasoning behind the unique shape.  Per Wikipedia , and an Australian novelty newspaper , the shape was a marketing tool:  The inventor, Clarence Crane, wanted a hard candy that could hold up to summer heat, and would be shaped in such a way as to set it apart from competitors.  Crane saw a machine that made round-shaped pills for use in pharmaceuticals, and a...

 Very first thing is a shout out to the Punk Rock MBA: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThePunkRockMBA/videos https://www.instagram.com/finnmckenty/ https://www.thepunkrockmba.com/the-punk-rock-mba-podcast/ I've been wanting to write a response to all of their content for a long time, and while it's great that Finn responds directly to social media posts and messages, there's a lot that I want to say that's impossible to fit into an Instagram DM.  But, without their content on Youtube and in their podcast, this is a topic that I never would've thought about addressing. While I definitely fucked with the hardcore scene (my first two concerts were a rock/metal show at The Intersection in Grand Rapids, and a hardcore show at Skelletones), to the point where a few of my good friends who I'd have over for bonfires and stuff were actually in bands that played at Skelletones, my little anti-establishment tear in high school had me digging into country, alt-country, cowpunk, a...

Charlie's Dump, the Georgetown Soccer Bowl, and Rosewood Park all describe the same common area in Jenison, Michigan, at the northeast corner of 20th Ave. and Rosewood St.  It's, simply put, a giant pit surrounded by residential subdivisions (and lately, a nice playground).  It was our local sledding hill.  It was where we'd go in the winters.  Every year, it seemed, one kid would come to school with a broken arm.  There were low-key "gangs" that would push and shove you if you went down the wrong side of the 4-sided structure.  And, late at nights, the bad kids (you know, the ones who would smoke cigarettes underneath the Rush Creek bridge on 12th Ave. or ride BMX bikes behind the Pizza Hut on Baldwin) would tip over the port-a-potties and push them down the hill. Starting at the rim and going down the hill, there's a bump about halfway down that served as a launch ramp for kids on sleds.  The really cool kids could manipulate their sleds mid-air, doi...