Tony Orrico: Penwald Drawings/CARBON exhibit opens Feb. 27 at Finlandia University Gallery

HANCOCK -- Tony Orrico: Penwald Drawings/CARBON is on display at the Finlandia University Gallery, located in the Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock, from TODAY, Feb. 27, to March 19, 2014.

Tony Orrico, /Vessel for Governing and Conception/ (2012). (Photo by Juan Cano.  Courtesy of the artist and MARSO.)

An opening reception for the artist will take place at the gallery from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. TONIGHT, Thursday, Feb. 27. Orrico will present an artist talk beginning at 7:15 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

This exhibit is part of a week-long artist residency with Finlandia University and Michigan Technological University. Orrico is collaborating on research and exhibition with Finlandia University Gallery and the International School of Art and Design, along with Michigan Tech’s Visual and Performing Arts and Computer Science Departments.

Through initiatives coming from both campuses, students and faculty from several concentrations at Finlandia and the Creative Drawing class in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Michigan Tech will be involved as Orrico works in The Mind Music Machine (tri-M) Lab, an interdisciplinary research group based in Cognitive and Learning Sciences and Computer Science at Michigan Tech. Materials from his collaboration with the lab will be on display in the Finlandia University Gallery exhibition.

Orrico’s Penwald Drawings are a series of bilateral drawings in which Orrico explores the use of his body as a tool of measurement to inscribe geometries through movement. He uses a physical practice, symmetry practice (circa 2005), as point of entry into this work. In his termed "state of readiness," he is interested in the application of a present body to a surface, object, or course.

Tony Orrico, Penwald 1: 1 circle (studio impression 1) 2011. (Image courtesy of Shoshana Wayne Gallery.)

His gestures derive from the limitation of (or spontaneous navigation within) the sphere of his outstretched arms. Line density becomes a record of his mental and physical sustain as he commits his focus to a greater concept of balance throughout extended durations of drawing. Centralizing on themes of cyclic motion and the generation and regeneration of material, the work draws on the tension between what is fleeting and what is captured.

"Orrico’s practice is rooted in tenets of performance art including using the body as a tool, engaging in physically demanding actions which push the body to limits of endurance and challenging the viewer to engage in non-traditional viewing practices," writes Collete Copeland in her article "Waxing and Waning: Tony Orrico at the MAC (Dallas’ McKinney Avenue Contemporary)." Copeland continues, "His practice is one of exploration and wonder. He challenges all of us to engage with the world as a kinesthetic learner, using all of our senses to approach life with the curiosity of a child and the intellect of an adult."

In the CARBON series, body, graphite, plane, time and space combine to become powerful reflections on life cycles, energetic flows and complementary opposites. His repetitious movements, often leading to exhaustion, become deep metaphors about life and death simultaneously.

Tony Orrico has performed/exhibited his work in the US, Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. His visual work is in collection at The National Academy of Sciences (Washington, DC) and Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico City) as well as prominent private collections. He has recently been presented at SCAD: deFINE ART, Cranbrook Art Museum, New Museum, and Poptech 2011: The World Rebalancing. In June he will perform Penwald: 2: 8 circles: 8 gestures at Center Pompidou-Metz.

As a former member of Trisha Brown Dance Company and Shen Wei Dance Arts, Orrico has graced such stages as the Sydney Opera House, Teatro La Fenice, New York State Theater, and Théâtre du Palais-Royal. He was also one of a select group of artists to re-perform the work of Marina Abramovic during her retrospective at MoMA.

The Finlandia University Gallery is in the Finnish American Heritage Center, 435 Quincy Street, Hancock. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 12 noon to 4 p.m. or by appointment. For more information, call 906-487-7500.

Interview: Diane Miller of Houghton County explains why she has collected signatures for two anti-wolf-hunt petition drives

By Katie Alvord*

Wolf photo courtesy Wolfwatcher.org. Reprinted with permission.

HOUGHTON -- For more than a year now, Houghton County resident Diane Miller has collected signatures to help protect Michigan wolves from being hunted. As one of many citizen volunteers working with the Humane Society offshoot Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, Diane has gathered more than 900 signatures for two anti-wolf-hunt petition drives. The second of these faces an early March deadline.

Diane stands firmly on one side of a debate over the fate of wolves -- a debate that seems only to have intensified as Michigan held its first wolf-hunting season in four decades, from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31, 2013. In the conversation below, she shares stories and perspectives about working on this issue and living with wolves in the U.P.; and she explains to this writer why she opposes the wolf hunt.

K (Katie Alvord): You’ve been collecting signatures on the wolf hunt issue for months, and you’re still at it. Right now you’re working on the petition drive to repeal Public Act 21, which has given final say over the hunt to Michigan’s Natural Resources Commission.

D (Diane Miller): Yes. That commission is basically a group of business people. Only one of them has a background related to wildlife or wilderness or biology. (Update: please see Editor's Note below.)

K: As I understand things, state lawmakers enacted P.A. 21 after Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, with their first petition, succeeded in getting an anti-wolf-hunt referendum on the 2014 ballot. So when P.A. 21 made that referendum moot, this second petition drive was mounted with the goal of repealing that law and giving the wolf hunt decision back to the voters.

D: Yes. We need to get petitions into the mail by March 5, or dropped off at collection centers by March 9. If we get enough signatures, there will be two questions on the ballot. The first one will be: Shall we hunt wolves as a game species? The second is: Do we want the seven-member commission to determine game species in Michigan? We want people to vote "No" in both cases, to end wolf hunting in Michigan.**

During First Friday events in Calumet on Sept. 6, 2013, Diane Miller, left, collects signatures on the petition for a referendum on P.A. 21 -- the second petition drive to allow Michigan voters to decide whether a wolf should be a game species. Pictured with Diane on Fifth Street in Calumet are, from left, Nancy Sprague, Bill Sewell and Oren Tikkanen.  (Keweenaw Now file photo)

K: While working on these petition drives, what have you done?

D: I ask people for their signatures. I ask my friends. I hang out in bars I wouldn’t normally go to. I take petitions with me pretty much everywhere I go. I hang out at highway rest areas on weekends sometimes and ask travelers as they come through to sign. I’ve hung out in parking lots of wilderness areas and campgrounds.

K: So how much time would you say you put in?

D: I have never calculated that. It might be hundreds of hours.

K: What do you tell potential petition signers?

D: For the first initiative, I just asked if they would like to sign a petition that would help get a referendum on the Fall 2014 ballot to repeal the wolf hunt. With this second petition drive, the issue is more about who gets to decide what’s hunted. There is a lot more talking that has to happen because this second issue is more complex.

On the face of it, it could sound like a good idea that there would be a commission of people to determine the game species. That sounds reasonable. However, when we realize that the people in question are not even remotely biologists -- they are business people appointed by the governor -- and that their decision then will trump everything else, including the democratic process, that’s not so reasonable.

K: What motivates you to do this?

D: Sometimes people think that because I’m a woman I like wolves because they’re pretty. They are pretty, but that is not even close enough to motivate me to take action.

I do it because I don’t want to live in a world where we want to handle problems the way we seem to be handling this one. It seems to me that people who are pushing for a wolf hunt -- our leaders, our elected officials -- don’t understand, or are maybe ignoring -- that one species is part of a bigger picture, that it might not make sense to address a conflict by declaring a season on our fellow creatures.

K: When you talk to potential signers, what responses do you get?

D: It’s very, very interesting. First of all, the people who want to sign the petition really, really, really want to sign the petition. They are very appreciative. Most of them can hardly believe that this is going on! They thank me, they tell their friends, and sometimes their friends will come looking to sign. So we do have a group of people like that.

We still have some people who didn’t even know that we had a wolf hunt, so they want to learn about that. And they’re quite shocked to find out that we would actually do such a thing.

And then there’s a group of people who seem offended that I would ask them to sign the petition. I’ve run into a variety of aggressive responses. More than once, grown men have -- upon finding out what I’m doing -- performed acts like running around the parking lot waving their arms and shouting, "Kill the wolves! Kill all the wolves!" They will taunt me, to try to intimidate me, I guess.

At the Parade of Nations last September, Diane Miller, center, is pictured at the Keep Michigan Wolves Protected booth along with two other petition gatherers -- Jackie Winkowski, left, Wolfwatcher Great Lakes Representative, and Leah Vucetich of Hancock. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

I encountered a lot of thinking that made no rational sense. Here’s just one example: One time I was downstate at a highway rest stop, and I approached an older man to ask if he wanted to sign. He said, "No way! I have them at my cabin in the U.P. and they’re scary. If you lived around wolves, you wouldn’t be thinking we should save them." Then I told him, "But I do live near wolves, up in the U.P. I have wolves near my property." So here’s where he took that: he said, "Oh, you think you can come down here and tell us what to do?" Not only was he saying that we should kill whatever scares us, but he also did not seem to see anything wrong with his logic, which seems to be that if you’re from the U.P. and you promote the wolf hunt, your U.P. connections increase your credibility. If you’re from the U.P. and are against the wolf hunt, drawing on your U.P. experience makes you an oppressor.

I’ve encountered people who were afraid that wolves would come into their houses and get them. Of course, it’s not the kind of thing that wolves are known to do. These people have their minds made up, and they’re made up out of fear.

K: The kind of interactions you’ve described paint a picture of how divisive this issue can be, and how emotional. How do we get past that, to meaningful dialog?

D: That’s a good question. Much of what we are talking about seems based in fear and hate. And a person who is making a decision based on fear and hate is not usually open to other perspectives. But change is not impossible. I’m thinking of Aldo Leopold, who, as a hunter, routinely shot wolves under the misguided idea that it would increase the deer herd. He later wrote about watching the "fierce green fire" die from the wolf’s eyes. He understood that he had shot the wolf because he was "full of trigger itch" and that nature required a balance that he didn’t have the right to interfere with.

Restoring the democratic process -- and encouraging voters to educate themselves -- and nurturing a culture of understanding of our appropriate place in an ecosystem is how I believe we can reduce conflict.

K: What kind of encounters have you had with wolves?

D: I’ve only had two in the wild. And they were both really lovely. Once I was looking for berries way back in the woods on a two-track road in Marquette County. As I rounded a bend I surprised a wolf about six feet away. The wolf looked at me, did a little dance, and slid away. The second time, I was in Iron County looking for mushrooms in the woods when I came across two wolves who were eating something. They looked up at me and I felt like I should go away. So I did.

K: They didn’t make any movement toward you or anything?

D: None whatsoever. They just looked at me and I had the feeling they were curious about me, but they were taking care of their own business. I just turned around and left. I knew they would not hurt me. Every source I have encountered agrees that no healthy wolf has ever even once been known to hurt a human being in Michigan. In spite of that, there are a lot of inaccurate stories about wolf threats.

K: I read about those. Just before the 2013 wolf season opened the news reported that State Senator Tom Casperson had used an incorrect story in his 2011 resolution calling for removal of wolves from the Endangered Species list. That resolution included a statement about wolves appearing multiple times in the back yard of a daycare center when children were outside playing. In reality, one wolf was sighted on a lawn, one time, when no children were present, and the wolf ran away when the woman who saw it screamed.

D: Yes. Unfortunately, now it is a matter of history that lawmakers have cast their votes based on that lie. I really don’t want my world to be one in which decisions are made this way -- on bad information and based on fear.

K: The wolf hunt took place in three U.P. zones where the DNR had registered conflicts with or complaints about wolves and they’ve said that the wolf hunt’s primary goal was to target wolf packs with a history of conflict. They have also stated that the 2013 wolf season was successful in that way. But Nancy Warren of the National Wolfwatcher Coalition has said that most wolves killed during the hunt were not threats, including some radio-collared research animals, wolves killed near Porcupine Mountains State Park, and one killed in the Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness. What’s your take on all that?

D: I heard a story told by a hunter who was hunting deer this past year. He encountered some wolf hunters who were shooting deer and then leaving the deer’s bodies in a pile in hopes of baiting, attracting a wolf so they could shoot it. What we have here is not a group of hunters scouting just the area around human-wolf interaction.

I am grateful to Nancy because of the work that she’s done in several instances with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in exposing this. If the DNR says that most of the wolves were killed near the area of human-wolf conflict, and then we find out that’s not true, their credibility is gone; we need to know the truth about our public agencies.

Another part of this picture includes the livestock depredations, and that’s also where the work that Nancy did is so important. It was because of losses of livestock and pets that ostensibly this wolf hunt was supposed to happen. Through FOIA though, Nancy found out that most of the depredations happened on one farm, and they were the result of poor farming practices. Leaving decaying carcasses out in the field is a sure way to get some wolves to visit your property. That farmer -- as well as other farmers -- was helped by the state. To discourage wolves, he was given fencing, which disappeared. If I remember correctly, Nancy’s work revealed that the DNR spent nearly $33,000 on that farm. He was also given three donkeys, which are good at guarding farm animals. Two died and one was removed from the farm as it was suffering from neglect.

Upper Peninsula wolf photographed during Michigan's 2013 wolf hunt (November 2013). (Photo courtesy Nancy Warren, National Wolfwatcher Coalition)

K: So you mentioned a few ways the state is helping people to coexist with wolves without having to kill them -- the fencing, the donkeys. And then you mentioned the problem with dead livestock. People who raise livestock will have animals die from time to time, from disease or whatever, and they have to have a place to put the carcasses. An NPR report recently covered what they do about this in parts of Montana. They have a designated person who comes and collects the carcasses and takes them to a place away from live animals, so they don’t stay on the ranch and serve as that kind of bait. And that seems to be working, the report said. So can those things be done here?

D: While I do not claim to be a farming expert, for ethical reasons, I say that yes, these things need to be done. If we are going to herd animals, we need to adopt practices that protect those animals. It might have been the same broadcast that you heard on NPR where I heard that in Montana there is someone who is actually teaching the cows how to herd up and protect themselves from wolves the same way that bison do. Which is pretty intriguing. And it does bring up a question: Why don’t we just raise bison? Why don’t we raise the kinds of animals who naturally protect themselves? I have read that Highland cattle, for example, will do that. I have a neighbor who keeps a llama to guard her farm. There are lots of ways to do this.
 
K: In other words, you see strong arguments that we don’t need a hunt, per se, to protect livestock, pets or ourselves from wolves?

D: Yes. And even before the hunt farmers had the right to shoot a wolf that they caught hurting their livestock or their pet. And they also had the right to get a permit to shoot a wolf later if they had experienced threats to their animals. So people already have the right to kill a problem wolf on their land, with or without a permit, depending on the situation. This was already in place.

During the Indigenous Earth Issues Summit at Northern Michigan University in Marquette last Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, Barbara Bradley, right, of Scandia, signs the petition to repeal Public Act 21 and give the wolf hunt decision back to Michigan voters. Collecting signatures at the Summit are Keep Michigan Wolves Protected volunteers Catherine Parker of Marquette and Rich Sloat of Iron River. Jill Fritz, Keep Michigan Wolves Protected campaign director (not pictured), also collected signatures during Friday's Summit. Together, the three volunteers collected nearly 60 signatures at the Summit. "The people attending the event and the students taking classes in the building were tremendously supportive of our efforts and eager to sign the petition," Fritz said. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

K: What for you would be the ideal outcome on this issue?

D: Well, certainly that we decide that we won’t have the wolf hunt. That’s the first thing. The second thing would be that perhaps we as citizens could be awakened to our need to be educated about these issues, and to be aware of how each of our fellow creatures fits into a system of which we are a part.

Wolves are important and there are studies galore that show that by keeping wolves in an ecosystem, that system is balanced in all sorts of ways. But that is not everything that is at stake here. This is more about what we can trust our lawmakers with -- and how we want our decisions to be made. Is it going to be all out of fear? Out of ignorance? Or will it be out of some sort of informed care? That’s what really matters.***

Editor's Notes: 
* Keweenaw Now guest writer Katie Alvord is the author of Divorce Your Car and several articles on Keweenaw Now, including three prize-winning articles on climate change in the Lake Superior Basin. Click here to read about her journalism award and links to these articles, which were published on Keweenaw Now in 2007.

** To learn more about the petition drive -- and the goal to collect at least 225,000 signatures for a referendum on P.A. 21 (second wolf hunt legislation) visit Keep Michigan Wolves Protected.

*** See also our Aug. 25, 2013, article, "Wolf advocates kick off second petition drive, seek referendum on Michigan wolf hunt law."

UPDATE: When the Natural Resources Commission approved the public wolf harvest on May 9, 2013 (P.A. 21 became law on May 8, 2013), only one of the commissioners voted "no" -- Annoesjka Steinman, who was at that time the only NRC member with any credentials related to the environment. In addition to holding a master's degree from Grand Valley State University in natural resources management and a bachelor's degree in natural science from the University of South Florida, Steinman is executive director and CEO of the Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids, a nonprofit organization which offers 143 acres of walking trails, an interpretive center and animal hospital, a small farm. Steinman is no longer a member of NRC. In December 2013, she was replaced by Vicki J. Pontz of Portland, Michigan, who was appointed to the NRC on Dec. 31, 2013, for a two-year term (expiring Dec. 31, 2015).

Pontz was the Director of the Environmental Stewardship Division at the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) for five years. She also served as MDA's Legislative Liaison for five years, overseeing legislative and regulatory activities for all MDA divisions and working directly with members of the Michigan Legislature on issues ranging from food safety, bovine tuberculosis, and horse racing to pesticide regulation and water use. She also has experience working for the Michigan Farm Bureau. Her areas of expertise include natural resources and the environment and K-12 education -- and she is an avid hunter, hiker, and cyclist.

Michigan LCV: Green Gavels: To Stop Mining Projects, Burden of Proof Weighs Heavy on Localities

By Katie Sulau, Michigan  League of Conservation Voters
Posted Feb. 24 on Michigan LCV Political Week in Review
Reprinted with permission

Last week, we told you about a public hearing to discuss an application to create a massive gravel mining operation just north of Chelsea, Michigan, in Lyndon Township.* Our ears perked up about this particular permit because it is a direct repercussion of a damaging decision on the part of the Michigan Supreme Court, which we covered on Green Gavels, our accountability tool that tracks the decisions of the judicial branch. The Court’s decision applied "innocent until proven guilty" to the predictably damaging environmental impacts of natural resources extraction.

Essentially, unless localities can demonstrate that "very serious consequences" will result from natural resources extraction, zoning boards must approve permits. Former State Representative Matt Huuki (R – Atlantic Mine) sponsored a bill (HB 4746) that reinforced that rule in July 2011, which, unfortunately, passed the state legislature.** Now, Lyndon Township residents are playing automatic defense to stop a mining operation that state law provides should move full speed ahead unless it can be proven that the gravel mine will become a sinkhole for the entire town of Chelsea, or an equally devastating scenario. The good news? The Lyndon Township Planning Commission delayed a decision on the application last Monday, which leaves more time to mount a sizable defense. Consider the gravel mine proposal in Lyndon Township a prime example of the damaging repercussions of statewide policy taking hold locally, and read up on how we got here on our Green Gavels page.

Read more on Michigan LCV's Feb. 24, 2014, Political Week in Review.

Editor's Notes:
* Click here for the Michigan LCV's Feb. 17 Political Week in Review.

**See Keweenaw Now's Nov. 3, 2012, article, "Portage Township Board candidates express views at forum; most challengers to incumbents absent," to learn how HB 4746 affected zoning in the case of the Valley View Quarry in Portage Township.

Michigan Tech's Center for Diversity and Inclusion announces events: Feb. 25-Mar. 1

HOUGHTON -- Michigan Tech's Center for Diversity and Inclusion announces the following events on campus for this week, Feb.24 - March 1:

The Red Cross is holding a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, and Wednesday, Feb. 26, in Michigan Tech's Van Pelt Library.

Michigan Tech PhD student and Global City VP Shan Zhao will give a presentation on "The Evolution of Chinese Fashion," exploring the costumes of ancient China and their cultural significances, such as the many facets of color and design that emerged during each dynasty’s reign. The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, in EERC L100.

Counseling Services and the Association of Psychology Students are screening the film America the Beautiful 3: The Sexualization of Our Youth at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, in Fisher 135. Free admission and concessions.

The Society of Intellectual Sisters (SIS) will host Bra Workshops from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.on Wednesday, Feb. 26, and Thursday, Feb. 27, in Fisher 125. All supplies will be provided. Come support the National Breast Cancer Foundation by making an individual or organizational "Disney"-themed bra for the 2014 SIS Bra Show, which will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, March 21! Click here for more information.

Khana Khazana will be serving Iranian food from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28, in the MUB Food Court. All proceeds will go to benefit children living in poverty in Iran, to help them stay in school. Click here for the tempting menu!

The Spectrum Connection, a Michigan Tech student organization devoted to autism acceptance, will host a Day of Mourning Vigil at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, in the MUB Circle to mourn members of the disability community who have been murdered by their family and caregivers and to demand change in the media and justice system.

Women’s Month kicks off on Saturday, March 1, with a Professional Dress Fashion Show. The event will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Forestry Atrium. Snacks will be provided. Click here for more info.

The African Students Organization (ASO) is hosting African Night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, in the MUB Ballroom. Tickets are $8 for students/$10 faculty/staff/community. Click here for more info.

The Superior Wind Symphony presents "Flights of Fantasy" at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, at the Rozsa Center. Click here for more info.

The Progressive: Walker's Mine Imperils Wisconsin

By Rebecca Kemble*
Posted Feb. 10, 2014, on The Progressive
Reprinted in part with permission

In the year 2000, a spiritual elder of the Ojibwe tribe in northern Wisconsin warned of massive water pollution and shortages of clean water in the years to come. "What are you going to do about it?" he asked Josephine Mandamin, an Ojibwe grandmother. Mandamin could not get the question out of her head.

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) member Terri Denomie, left, carrying water, joins Josephine Mandamin of Thunder Bay, Ont., carrying the ceremonial eagle staff, during the 2011 Mother Earth Water Walk, on the way to the final destination, Bad River, Wis. (Keweenaw Now file photo © 2011 and courtesy Roxanne Ornelas)**

In Ojibwe spiritual teachings, women are responsible for water. Their special relationship to water spirits is related to their ability to carry and generate life.

So, in April 2003 Mandamin decided to organize a water walk. She and other Ojibwe and non-indigenous women and men helped carry a pail and ceremonial eagle staff on a 1,000-mile journey along the shores of Lake Superior that took thirty-six days.

Every spring since then, Mandamin has organized and participated in water walks around each of the other Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence and Mississippi rivers. In the summer of 2011, one year after the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, four groups of water walkers set out from the Atlantic Ocean, Hudson Bay, the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico and converged at the mouth of the Bad River on Lake Superior, the origin of the first water walk.**

Josephine Mandamin of Thunder Bay, Ont., speaks to walkers and visitors during the reception held by Keweenaw Bay Indian Community members on June 8, 2011, at Ojibwa Community College in Baraga, Michigan. (Keweenaw Now file photo)**

But as the water walkers from the four directions arrived, a political battle that could spell doom for the area and its watershed was heating up 300 miles to the south in the state capitol building in Madison.

West Virginia coal billionaire Chris Cline had just incorporated the Gogebic Taconite (GTac) company and announced plans to build one of the largest iron mines in the world.

The twenty-two-mile long, 1,000-foot deep open pit would obliterate the Penokee Hills that form the headwaters of the Bad River watershed, leaving in their place a wasteland of 910 million tons of sulfuric acid-producing waste rock, depleted aquifers, poisoned rivers and streams, and a film of asbestos-laden dust for miles around. Cline, who made his fortune blasting off mountaintops in West Virginia for coal, now aims to bring the natural, social, and economic devastation wrought by this kind of mining to one of the most ecologically sensitive and important places in Wisconsin. ...

Click here to read the rest of this article on The Progressive.

Editor's Notes:

* Rebecca Kemble is a writer and political reporter for The Progressive. She is also a founding member, writer, and editor in the Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative.

** See our Aug. 5, 2011, article, "Updated: KBIC welcomes 2011 Mother Earth Water Walk participants," with more photos of the 2011 Water Walkers' visit to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Baraga.

Guest article: Why all the howling?

By Nancy Warren, Executive Director and Great Lakes Regional Director, National Wolfwatcher Coalition

Photo of wolf courtesy wolfwatcher.org. Reprinted with permission.

The wolf is neither saint nor villain. It is simply an animal that inhabits Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and fills a valuable niche in the ecosystem. Should wolves be a hunted game species? Should Michigan residents have a voice in wildlife decisions? Will Michigan voters be allowed to decide?

Based on last winter’s population survey, there are an estimated 658 wolves spread across the U.P. There has not been one credible human threat by wolves in Michigan. In 2013, only 13 individual livestock animals were verified to have been killed by wolves, and each of these producers was reimbursed the fair market value of their losses. Of the approximately 900 working farms in the U.P., only  10 experienced a confirmed livestock loss to wolves.

Since federal delisting of wolves in January 2012, livestock and pet owners in Michigan are permitted to kill any wolf in the act of attacking their animals. Further, when there is a confirmed wolf attack, the Department of Natural Resources issues a permit to landowners allowing them to kill any wolf on their property. In 2013, 11 wolves were killed in control actions by government officials and private citizens.

In December 2012, Public Act 520 was signed into law adding the wolf to Michigan’s list of game species. The Michigan  Constitution affords citizens the right to challenge newly-enacted laws through the veto referendum process, so a coalition of Michigan wolf advocates exercised their right to do just that and gathered more than 250,000 signatures of registered voters calling for a referendum on the issue in the November 2014 general election.

Upper Peninsula wolf. (Photo courtesy Nancy Warren, National Wolfwatcher Coalition)

But in an appalling response to this strong citizen opposition to designating the wolf a game species, the Legislature quickly passed, and Gov. Rick Snyder signed, Public Act 21 of 2013, authorizing the state’s Natural Resources Commission (NRC) to designate almost any species as game. The NRC, which is a politically-appointed body with strong ties to those who support the hunting of wolves for recreation, quickly designated the wolf as game and authorized a wolf hunting season for November 2013. Decisions of the NRC cannot be challenged by the public. P.A. 21 is a blatant attempt to silence the voices of Michigan  residents and it takes away the rights of citizens to challenge game designation decisions.

But citizens responded by conducting a second referendum petition challenging P.A. 21, which is currently underway.*

The purpose of these two referendums is clear: one challenges whether wolves should be a game species, and the other challenges the authority of the NRC to designate new species as game and restores the right of citizens to challenge wildlife laws enacted through legislation.

Neither referendum affects any species, designated as game, other than the wolf. And let me be clear: These two referendums do not impact anyone’s right to hunt deer, bear, waterfowl or any other species currently hunted or trapped, and they have no impact on any hunting, trapping or fishing regulations currently in place. They are referendums to overturn those two newly-enacted laws. Period.

The referendums also have no bearing on the state’s existing ability to manage problem wolves. Absent a wolf hunting season, producers will still be reimbursed for any livestock losses verified to have been killed by wolves. Producers and dog owners will still be able to kill, without a permit, any wolf that is in the act of attacking their livestock or pet. And livestock producers and dog owners will still be issued permits to kill any wolf on their property following a confirmed loss by wolves.

There is a lot of misinformation and fear-mongering being propagated by groups trying to counteract these two referendums. Get the facts about wolves and the truth about the Keep Michigan Wolves Protected campaign at www.keepwolvesprotected.com.

Inset photo: Nancy Warren. (File photo by Allan Baker for Keweenaw Now)

* Editor's Note: See our Aug. 25, 2013, article, "Wolf advocates kick off second petition drive, seek referendum on Michigan wolf hunt law," with video clips of Nancy Warren's testimonies concerning the facts about the wolf issue in Michigan.

Green Film Series to present documentary on living small Feb. 20 at Michigan Tech

HOUGHTON -- The Green Film Series continues at Michigan Tech with the documentary Tiny: a movie about living small, which will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, in the Atrium and G002 Hesterberg Hall, Michigan Tech Forestry Building. The 62-minute film will be followed by coffee, dessert and facilitated discussion until 8:30 p.m. The event is FREE. A $3 donation is suggested.

The "tiny house" movement can be traced back as far as Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. Thoreau’s ideal of simplifying life, considering which comforts and possessions can be done without in order to live a life that is "more deliberate," rings true for many. Whatever their motivation, Tiny House owners have come up with some inspiring designs and innovations for living comfortably in small spaces.

From 1970 to 2010, the average size of a new house in America has almost doubled. Yet in recent years, many are redefining their American Dream to focus on flexibility, financial freedom, and quality of life over quantity of space. These "Tiny Housers" live in homes smaller than the average parking space! Tiny takes us inside six of these homes, exploring the owners’ stories and the design innovations that make them work. Tiny is about a generation that is more connected, less tied-down than ever, and a society redefining its priorities in the face of a changing financial and environmental climate.

Dream big and imagine living small! Visit with "tiny home" owners and builders and gather resources.

The Green Film Series, showing one film a month from January to May, is co-sponsored by Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society, the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and the Keweenaw Land Trust -- with partial funding from the Keweenaw Community Foundation Environmental Endowment.

Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club to hold monthly meeting TONIGHT, Feb. 18

Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club members Gromit the Trail Mutt and Sandy Aronson pause for a photo on one of the bridges along the Maasto Hiihto River Trail. (Photo courtesy Trail Mutt Reports)*

HANCOCK -- Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club (KNSC) will hold its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. TONIGHT, Tuesday, Feb. 18, at the Hancock Chalet. All are welcome.

Questions?? Email Jay Green, KNSC president, at jbgreen45@charter.net or call Jay at 487-5411.

* Editor's Note: Click on our Feb. 10 article to see Gromit's photos of the Barneløpet children's ski race at Maasto Hiihto.

Family Engineering Night is TONIGHT, Feb. 18, at Houghton Elementary

HOUGHTON -- Michigan Tech's Center for Science and Environmental Outreach will present Family Engineering Night from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. TONIGHT, Tuesday, Feb. 18, at Houghton Elementary School.

The event will include student-led engineering activities for K-5 students and families. For more information contact Joan Chadde at jchadde@mtu.edu or visit www.familyengineering.org.

Ray Sharp to offer poetry reading, book signing Feb. 18 at Community Arts Center

HANCOCK -- The Copper Country Community Arts Center will host a reading and book signing of Memories of When We Were Birds, by local poet Ray Sharp, from 6 p.m. -  7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18.

In this book, Ray Sharp takes readers on a walk through the rugged landscape of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. Sharp’s unique voice, tempered by the region’s stark beauty and harsh climate, echoes with the cries of coyotes and crows and soars on the wings of majestic Sandhill cranes. Memories is an unforgettable journey through the four seasons that explores the wild and untamed territories of the human heart.

The Copper Country Community Arts Center is at 126 Quincy Street in Hancock.

Informational presentation on wolves to be offered Feb. 15 in Iron River, Mich.

Photo of wolf courtesy wolfwatcher.org. Reprinted with permission.

IRON RIVER, MICH. -- The public is invited to an informational/educational presentation on Michigan wolves from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. TODAY, Saturday, Feb. 15, in the J. Patrick White Conference Room at the West Iron District Library in Iron River, Michigan.

Wolf topics will range from basic biology, beneficial importance, Native American cultural significance, the recent wolf hunt, the legislative process that led to the wolf hunt, the mistruths that have been spread, and what citizens can do to restore their constitutional right to participate in the political process. A question and answer session will be part of the main presentation.

Nancy Warren from the National Wolfwatcher Coalition and Keep Michigan Wolves Protected will be the main speaker. Elder Earl Ojiingwaanigan will speak about the Wolf and its connection to Native American culture.

There will be two programs. The first presentation will be held from 1 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. It will be repeated from 3:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. Central Standard Time. During an intermission between the programs, refreshments will be served.

Native American Music Awards recipient Bobby Bullet, accompanied by Pamela Nesbit, will play and sing during part of the intermission.

The views expressed at this event do not necessarily reflect those of the West Iron District Library. For more information, please contact Richard Sloat at 906-265-0751.

Photo inset: Nancy Warren of National Wolfwatcher Coalition. (Keweenaw Now file photo by Allan Baker)

Celebrate Valentine's Day at Parade of Confections dessert auction, dance to PasiCats TONIGHT, Feb. 14

Come to the Parade of Confections fundraiser TONIGHT for your chance to win this beautiful "Conversation Heart Cake" by Tammy Kero of It Takes a Cake in Ontonagon -- and dance to the music of the PasiCats -- all to help support the Copper Country Community Arts Center. (Photo courtesy Copper Country Community Arts Center)

HANCOCK -- Looking for a special treat for Valentines Day? Dress up and come out for the Parade of Confections fundraiser, where there will be a live auction of decadent gourmet desserts followed by a dance with the Pasi Cats. The Parade of Confections is an annual fundraiser for the Copper Country Community Arts Center in Hancock and will take place from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. TONIGHT, Friday, Feb.14, at the Finnish American Heritage Center at 435 Quincy Street in Hancock.

Event auctioneer Captain Don Kilpela of the Isle Royale Queen will begin the live auction at 6:30 p.m. sharp.  The evening will also include a silent auction of jewelry and art, live music by Clay Hilman, and hors d'oeuvres. People may bid on desserts individually or in groups.

Following the auction will be a dance with the PasiCats starting at 8 p.m. Tickets for $10 each may be purchased at the Arts Center or at the door.

The Copper Country Community Arts Center is a non profit arts organization dedicated to fostering an environment where the arts and people grow together. The CCCAC is located at 126 Quincy Street in Hancock. Call 482-2333 for more information or visit www.coppercountryarts.com.

Join One Billion Rising Feb. 14 -- global action to end violence against women

Poster for One Billion Rising global action to end violence against women. (Poster courtesy People Against Violence Endeavor)

HOUGHTON -- One Billion Rising is a global action to end violence against women. It gives the opportunity for women and men worldwide to say, "Enough! The violence ends now."

TOMORROW, Friday, Feb. 14, one billion women around the world and those who love them are invited to rise and dance to end violence against women.

Global City, Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Dial Help, Men Matter, Barbara Kettle Gundlach Shelter and their People Against Violence Endeavor invite you to join them at a local One Billion Rising event at noon Friday, Feb. 14, at Douglass Houghton Hall Ballroom on the Michigan Tech campus.

You don’t have to dance to be a part of the event; however, if you do want to learn the dance a practice session for the dance will be held at 5 p.m. TONIGHT, Thursday, Feb. 13, in the DHH (Douglass Houghton Hall) Ballroom on the Michigan Tech campus.

Keep posted on latest information about this event by visiting bkgshelterhome.org or the Facebook page of PeopleAgainstViolenceEndeavor.

Please join One Billion Women in showing your support to end violence against women around the world. 

Click here to see the dance associated with the event.

Click here for a breakdown for the choreography.

Wellness Series continues TONIGHT, Feb. 13, at Portage Library

HOUGHTON -- The Portage Lake District Library invites you to give yourself a Valentine gift and learn about the art of relaxation from 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. TONIGHT, Thursday, Feb. 13.

Darlene Basto will present "Tai Chi and Qigong for a Lighter Heart." Her discussion and demonstration will focus on how these two ancient Eastern heart-mind exercises have been offering tools for achieving relaxation for centuries. Basto will explain how Qigong and Tai Chi that have been clinically shown to provide the lowest impact weight-bearing exercise known and how these exercises help ensure full range and mobility far into old age, improve balance and coordination, alleviate stress response, reduce anxiety and depression, lower high blood pressure, increase breathing capacity, reduce asthma and allergy reactions, boost the immune system, and increase lymph system circulation.

Participants will learn and practice Qigong and Tai Chi movements and are encouraged to wear loose, comfortable clothing, flat, slip resistant shoes, and bring a water bottle for rehydration afterwards.

Basto is a certified Qigong and Tai Chi instructor and is the owner/teacher of North Star Qigong and Tai Chi of Laurium. Her workshops and teachings focus on health and using practices to relieve stress that allow the body to work with its own natural healing abilities.

This event is part of the Natural Health and Wellness series, which is held on the second Thursday of each month. All library programs are free, and everyone is welcome. For more information, please call the library at 482-4570 or visit www.pldl.org.

Theatre Review: Excellent cast, crew present charming whirlwind of events in "Rose and the Rime"

By Joe Kirkish, Michigan Tech faculty emeritus
Posted Feb. 11, 2014 on Tech Today
Reprinted with permission

Rose (in red) is lifted into the air for her journey to find the rime witch who has cursed her town with perpetual winter -- in Michigan Tech's production of Rose and the Rime. It will be performed a second weekend at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13, 14, 15. (Photos courtesy Patricia Helsel, director and Michigan Tech associate professor, Visual and Performing Arts)

The other night I saw a production in Michigan Tech's McArdle Theatre. It's called Rose and the Rime, a charming mix of fairy tale, music, Cirque du Soleil, Noh Play and critters of every sort. It is set within an eye-popping, ever-changing setting of yards of voluminous material on which moving abstract projections appear and disappear to suggest a variety of places -- all of them around a Michigan town that's been cursed with perpetual winter by a hideous rime witch. It's up to Rose, a sweet young girl in red, to find the witch, take battle (high in the air) and return the town to its previous four seasons.

With Patricia Helsel conceiving, supervising, and directing a large cast and exceptional tech crew, a simple fairy tale has been turned into a whirling, fast-paced event that grabs you from the opening scene. There, mysterious creatures in blue-grey tights slither in and out of the huge ice-bound arena center stage, and the play moves to Rose's journey, battle with the witch, a falling in love, and, finally, a return to a normal spring back in Rose's home town. It's a whirlwind of events so excitingly and charmingly accomplished by an excellent cast that you are left stunned and very pleasantly entertained with the magic of it all.

Rose confronts the rime witch, who is dramatically suspended in the air.

Everyone from children to adults will truly enjoy this perfectly created dramatic spectacle. It will be presented again at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-15. For tickets and more information, call Ticketing Operations, 487-2073.*

*Editor's Note: Click here to read more about the play and the special backstage tour for children on Saturday.

Letter: Restore our right to vote on wildlife management issues

Dear Editor:

I sure am having a hard time understanding how people can object to the participation of an animal protection group in Michigan's wolf hunt issue, while at the same time endorsing the involvement of large, avid pro-hunting groups such as Safari Club International, U.P. Whitetails, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. This is neither fair nor logical.

For argument's sake, let's pretend we can eliminate all organizations from lobbying for or against the hunt. What would we have left?

Individuals, of course! Voters!

What started as a disagreement over how to handle wolves in Michigan has turned into something even more serious than the fate of a single species. Misled by Senator Casperson -- our state Legislature, Governor, DNR, and Natural Resources Commission have terminated the right of Michigan voters to challenge wildlife management decisions. Groups supporting the recreational hunting/trapping of wolves have organized themselves into a coalition that aims to make this permanent, claiming their right to hunt is being threatened, but by whom? Voters?

Opposition to the wolf hunt, both in Michigan and elsewhere, does not come solely from animal or wildlife protection groups. On the contrary, it includes individual wildlife watchers, deer hunters, Native American tribes (whose culture, incidentally, is based on hunting), and some of the country's leading wolf experts. Others have joined in as they've seen the process politicized, corrupted, and based on incorrect information.

Hyperbole and scare tactics have no place in this debate. This is not about taking away your right to hunt and fish, or removing science from wildlife management. The issue here is that many people believe that it is currently neither necessary nor appropriate to hunt wolves in Michigan.

Repealing PA 21 will restore our right to vote on wildlife management issues. Put it on the ballot.

Catherine Parker
Marquette

Friends of Portage Library to offer Blind Date Books; library to host Poetry Reading Feb. 14

HOUGHTON -- This Valentine's Day Friends of the Portage Lake District Library warmly invite library patrons to go on a blind date with a book! The library will also host a Poetry Reading on Friday, Feb. 14.

Go on a "blind date" with a book

Specially chosen library books have been wrapped with paper and decorated by participants in the library’s Young Adult Book Group. With titles and authors’ names covered up, patrons will not know until after they have checked the books out what they have chosen. Hopefully, they will enjoy the book’s "company."

"It’s all good fun," said Friends of the Library President Sandra Hubscher, "and is intended to spice up our literary lives."

Patrons can look for the Blind Date Books beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 12.

Portage Library to host Community Poetry Reading Feb. 14

The Portage Lake District Library invites everyone to gather around the library’s fireplace for a Community Poetry Reading at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14. Lovers of poetry are invited to read, listen, and enjoy the atmosphere.

Library programs are free and open to all. For more information, please call the library at 482-4570 or visit www.pldl.org.

Thomas Power speaks on economic impacts of mining: Part 1 - Houghton presentations

By Michele Bourdieu

[Editor's Note: This is the first of two video reports with excerpts from economist Thomas M. Power's presentations during his visit to the Keweenaw last November. This article will attempt to summarize Power's presentations in Houghton on Nov. 5 and 6, 2013. In the next article we will present excerpts from his talk and discussion at the Nov. 6 annual meeting of Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK), who hosted his visit and who have published his report on the impacts of copper mining in the Western UP.]*
 

During a public reception and discussion at the Super 8 Motel in Houghton on Nov. 6, 2013, Thomas M. Power, right, University of Montana research professor and professor emeritus and Principal of Power Consulting, talks about his experiences in Butte, Montana, and how he became interested in the economic impacts of mining. Also pictured here are, from left, Linda Belote of FOLK, Scott Rutherford of FOLK and John Slivon, Hancock City councilor. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

HOUGHTON -- Thomas M. Power, noted authority on natural resource and regional economic issues, gave several presentations during his visit to the Keweenaw in early November 2013. Author of the report, "The Economic Impacts of Renewed Copper Mining in the Western Upper Peninsula," sponsored by Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK), Power visited the local area at FOLK's invitation in order to discuss the report’s findings and recommendations and to foster a community dialogue about the future development of the Western UP economy.

Power's report is one of a series of action research projects that FOLK is sponsoring under its grassroots Mining Education and Citizen Empowerment Campaign. The Campaign’s focus is on citizens and private and public institutions working together to assess the risks and benefits of a renewal of mining in our region.*

Power has been associated with the economics department at the University of Montana since 1968. He served as the chairman of the economics department from 1978 to 2008. In 2008 he retired from teaching and university administration, but he remains active as a research professor. His teaching, research, and publications have focused on natural resource economics and the intersection between natural resources and regional economic vitality and well being.

Thomas Power speaks at Michigan Tech

On Nov. 5, 2013, Power gave a formal public presentation, "The Economic Anomaly of Mining: Treasure and Tears" -- part of the Green Lecture Series at Michigan Tech.

Carol MacLennan, Michigan Tech associate professor of anthropology, who helped organize Power's lecture at the university and who also does research on industrial history at Torch Lake (a local Superfund site), introduced Power to the audience.

Carol MacLennan, Michigan Tech associate professor of anthropology, introduces Thomas M. Power to the audience at his presentation, "The Economic Anomaly of Mining: Treasure and Tears," on Nov. 5, 2013, at Michigan Tech. (Photos by Allan Baker and Keweenaw Now)

"I'm happy to have someone here -- like Tom Power -- to help us start a discussion about mining in the Keweenaw," MacLennan told Keweenaw Now. "I'm looking forward to multiple perspectives about this issue."

This introductory slide provides an outline of Thomas Power's Nov. 5 presentation at Michigan Tech.

During his Michigan Tech talk, Power first talked about the importance and the legacy of mining in his own state, Montana, "The Treasure State." He contrasted the attractive "treasure" aspects of mining, including highly paid jobs, with the instability of mining impacts ("boom and bust") and the "flicker" of instability caused by fluctuations in metal prices.

Economist Thomas M. Power speaks on "The Economic Anomaly of Mining: Treasure and Tears" on Nov. 5, 2013, at Michigan Tech University. Here he uses graphs to demonstrate the differences in pay between metal mining jobs and other jobs in Michigan -- a "promise" of higher incomes -- but he also points out the instability of mining. Click on YouTube icon for larger screen. (Videos at Michigan Tech by Allan Baker for Keweenaw Now)

Just as he indicated in his report for FOLK, Power demonstrated in his Michigan Tech talk how the highly paid metal mining jobs only last as long as the mine and don't actually bring prosperity to a community. The life of a mine often depends on world metal prices.* 

Here Power demonstrates how the instability of copper prices affects employment, giving examples from the former White Pine Mine near Ontonagon, Michigan, in the Western Upper Peninsula.**

Present-day mining means fewer mining jobs for blue-collar workers because of technological change, as Power notes in this slide. Miners are more highly trained and specialized, and in some mines robots have replaced workers.

Power gave several examples of how mining can discourage investment in a community because of its instability. It can also, he noted, leave communities with a "company town" culture -- a lack of entrepreneurial spirit, unemployment and economic distress after the mining company departs.

In this slide Power lists several of mining's negative characteristics and their economic implications.

Power concluded his Michigan Tech presentation with a question - answer session.***

Bill Fink of Houghton said he thought Power's presentation at Michigan Tech left many questions unanswered.

"He's obviously spent a great deal of effort documenting the obvious, but without giving us meaningful suggestions on what the Western U.P. should do about mining," Fink said. "Mining is not going to take us back to where we were in 1910; however, mining can be part of a balanced economic future."

Stephanie Tubman, a Michigan Tech Peace Corps Masters International student and teaching assistant who recently completed a masters in geology, said it was helpful to get Power's perspective since he has taught about mining in the past.

"It was interesting to get a longer-term perspective on the impacts of mining," Tubman said. "It helped me think more holistically about the topic."

James Havu, a Michigan Tech graduate student in geophysics, also commented on Power's talk at Michigan Tech.

"I think this is an important topic to the local area," Havu noted. "Mining is the local culture here. It's almost as if they are bringing that culture back."

Keren Tischler of Atlantic Mine said she thought Power's presentation was excellent.

"It helped me understand the economic fluctuations that are implicit in the mining economy and how communities can choose to respond to mining interests with that information in hand," Tischler said.

Andrea Hauge-Bacon of Houghton said Power didn't present any data, statistics or graphs that said mining was a good idea.

"The downside is very apparent, and it didn't sound like it's a good idea anywhere," she said. "You have to be a very highly qualified technician in order to work in mining today. There's no pick and shovel anymore except on a recreational scale."

Power joins residents in discussion of mining, reclamation

On Nov. 6, 2013, some Houghton - Hancock area residents who attended the talk at Michigan Tech, and some who missed it, had an opportunity for an informal discussion with Power at a reception held for him at the Super 8 Motel in Houghton.

Economist Thomas M. Power, University of Montana Research Professor and Professor Emeritus and Principal of Power Consulting, speaks about the negative economic impacts of copper mining on Butte, Montana, during an informal discussion with local residents in Houghton, Michigan, on Nov. 6, 2013. (Nov. 6 videos by Keweenaw Now)

Linda Belote (in hat) of FOLK asks a question on the community's share in the wealth of mining -- leading to a discussion of mineral rights and severance taxes.

In Houghton on Nov. 6, 2014, Power joins residents in discussing mining reclamation, the Superfund, and the need for mining companies to commit sufficient funds to clean-up and pollution prevention.

Dave Allen of Marquette, Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition (UPEC) board member and conservation chair of the Sierra Club's Central U.P. Group, said he was familiar with Power's books but this was the first time he had a chance to hear him in person. He attended Power's presentations in Copper Harbor, Houghton and Baraga.

Dave Allen of Marquette chats with Thomas Power after the reception and discussion held in the Super 8 Motel in Houghton on Nov. 6, 2014. In the background are Scott Rutherford, left, of FOLK and John Slivon, Hancock City councilor.

"An impact analysis (like Thomas Power's report for FOLK) describes the whys and the wherefores of how we get to a certain place," Allen noted. "We've got a bunch of failed landscapes. How did we get to that point?"

Allen cited some of the impacts Power noted -- fluctuating copper prices, boom and bust, environmental damage, employees living out of the area -- as examples.

"He's giving you the information, and it's up to you to decide what to do with it," Allen added.

Editor's Notes:

* Thomas Power's report for FOLK, "The Economic Impacts of Renewed Copper Mining in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan," is posted on their mining education Web site. Click here for links to the Executive Summary of Power's report and the full report.

** Shortly after Power's visit, Highland Copper Co./Keweenaw Copper Co. announced on Nov. 19, 2013, their intention to acquire the White Pine Mine from Copper Range. See our Nov. 27, 2013, article, "Highland Copper Co. to acquire White Pine from Copper Range and continue Keweenaw mining exploration."

See also "Guest article: Mining industry has big plans for western UP and beyond," by Steve Garske, posted Jan. 22, 2014.

*** Click here, on the FOLK Web site, for links to the complete video recording of Power's Michigan Tech presentation on Nov. 5, 2013, and the Question-Answer session following that presentation.

Watch for Part 2 of this two-part series on Thomas Power's visit. It will include videos of his presentation and discussion in Baraga on Nov. 6, 2013. Coming soon ...

From Trail Mutt Reports: Photos of Barneløpet children's ski race, Winter Carnival All-Nighter at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

At Maasto Hiihto Trails on Feb. 9, 2014, kids of all ages brave the very cold temperatures to participate in the annual Barneløpet children's ski race, sponsored by Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club, the Sons of Norway Ulseth Lodge, and the City of Hancock. (Photos © and courtesy The Trail Mutt Reports. Reprinted with permission.)

HANCOCK -- Gromit the Trail Mutt has posted on her blog some great photos of her adventures at the Barneløpet children's ski race yesterday at Maasto Hiihto Trails and at the All-Nighter Winter Carnival statue building at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Thanks to Gromit and her "pack" -- Arlyn and Sandy Aronson -- for sharing these:

Wayne Stordahl (center) of Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club and Sons of Norway, race organizer, helps children line up for the Barneløpet on Feb. 9, 2014, at Maasto Hiihto Trails in Hancock.

And they're off!

Gromit the Trail Mutt warms up with kids in the Hancock Chalet, where hot chocolate and cookies are served. All participants receive a medallion like the ones these young skiers are wearing. "My award was to be with kids," Gromit says.

Gromit helps out at All-Nighter during Winter Carnival

Last Wednesday, Feb. 6, was the All-Nighter statue competition for Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival. Here Gromit is helping the crew at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Houghton shape the snow into their creation.

Andrea Hauge-Bacon reads a story to Nouma, Malia and Gromit in the lounge at Good Shepherd. "We all had such a fun evening," Gromit writes. "Especially the statue builders who hung in there until 3:30 (a.m.)."

Click here for more photos of the Barneløpet children's ski race on Gromit's Trail Mutt Reports.

Click here for more of Gromit's photos of the All-Nighter snow statue building at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

The Acting Company to present "Hamlet" Feb. 12 and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" Feb. 13 at Rozsa

HOUGHTON -- The Acting Company -- the renowned off-Broadway touring theater troupe that counts Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone and Jeffrey Wright among its alumni -- opened both William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, directed by Tony winner John Rando, to rave reviews and sold out shows for all dates in New York a few weeks ago; and now they are hitting the road with what has been called "Theater's Best Double Header Ever." The twist? The actors play the same roles in both plays!

Hamlet is coming to the Rozsa Center on Wednesday, Feb. 12, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead will be performed the following night -- Thursday, Feb. 13. Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m.

To be, or not to be -- that is the question.

This is the first production of Hamlet in The Acting Company’s 40-year history. The play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet exacts for his father’s murder, setting him on a journey seeking his personal mortality. It vividly portrays overwhelming grief and rage while exploring themes of danger, revenge and moral corruption. Hamlet is among Shakespeare’s most powerful and influential tragedies in English literature, one of Shakespeare’s most popular works during his lifetime and still ranking among his most-performed. Many believe that Hamlet is the best of Shakespeare’s work, the perfect play and certainly one of his most well-known and oft-quoted plays. Ian Belknap, The Acting Company’s Artistic Director, brings this masterpiece to life having previously directed The Acting Company’s The Comedy of Errors and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, playwright Tom Stoppard's first big hit, starred two unlikely heroes -- a pair of insignificant characters lifted from Hamlet. It tells the absurdist story of the Danish Prince's childhood friends, who are sent to spy on Hamlet and end up as confused courtiers navigating the shark-infested waters of the royal court. As the title suggests, the play ends poorly for the pair. But it didn't for Stoppard: It won the best play Tony Award in 1968 and was turned into a film starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth.

"I love the challenge of it," says director Rando, who directed the Broadway hits A Christmas Story, The Wedding Singer and Urinetown, for which he won a directing Tony. (Ian Belknap directs the companion Hamlet.)

Rando, a University of Texas graduate, recalls falling in love with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead as a student and waiting for a chance to direct it himself.

“I think it's an extremely entertaining evening and truly thought-provoking and, of course, funny but also powerful and touching," Rando says. "It's like Waiting for Godot. It has that kind of impact on an audience. In a way, that's what Stoppard did: He wrote Waiting for Godot for these two characters who are stuck in Hamlet.

And, if you’re in the mood for a nice dinner to go with your evening of off-Broadway theater, Bambu Asian Cuisine has a "Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern dinner special" for anyone with tickets to either show! Bambu is offering a 15 percent discount for anyone with tickets to the show, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, and Thursday, Feb. 13.

And finally, have you ever wondered, as the final scene closes and everyone is lying dead on stage, who buries Hamlet? What about a wake? Well, the Rozsa Center wondered the same things and decided it was time to throw a funeral for Hamlet and Co. -- complete with a New Orleans style brass band, food, and a cash bar -- immediately following The Acting Company's Hamlet, and the next night, for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (they die too). Come for the plays, stay for the party!

Tickets for Hamlet are $22, youth $8 (17 and under), and $5 for Michigan Tech students. Tickets for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead are $16, youth $8, and $5 for Michigan Tech students. For tickets, go online, or call Ticketing Operations at Michigan Tech’s Student Development Complex (SDC), (906) 487-2073, or visit in person at 600 MacInnes Drive, in Houghton. SDC box office hours are 8 a.m. - 9 p.m., Monday-Friday, and 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 12 noon - 8 p.m. on Sunday. Please note the Rozsa Box Office is closed during regular business hours, and will only open two hours prior to show times.