Northern Express Michigan

6 days ago | northernexpress.com | Ellen Miller |Matt Dursum |Abby McKiernan |Ross Boissoneau

TC Roller Derby looks back over 15 years By Ellen Miller | May 10, 2025 For the past 15 years, TC Roller Derby has been tearing up the rink and building relationships on and off the track. Back in 2010, a group of interested potential derby players met up to discuss the possibility of forming a team. They met at public spaces downtown, including Horizon Books and Cherry Republic, before finding a place to start practicing.

6 days ago | northernexpress.com | Stephen Tuttle |Matt Dursum |Abby McKiernan |Ross Boissoneau

Spectator By Stephen Tuttle | May 10, 2025 First, we have to tear things down, demonizing both people and institutions. Human enemies are easy enough to define—we’ll call people here illegally rapists, murderers, released prisoners, and mental patients. We’ll describe Muslims, and most anybody from a Muslim-dominant country, as terrorists. That way, people who look a little different, speak a different language, or believe a different religion become easy targets.

6 days ago | northernexpress.com | Matt Dursum |Abby McKiernan |Ross Boissoneau |Ellen Miller

Bottoms Up May 10, 2025 If you’ve been watching the Bottoms Up section lately, we’ve featured Rare Bird, Modern Bird, and now Dune Bird. (Spring is birding season!) Dune Bird’s Pink Plover Rosé is a true taste of summer, with notes of strawberry and watermelon that give way to tropical flavors like mango and pineapple. All that fruit comes through thanks to a long cold fermentation.

6 days ago | northernexpress.com | Abby McKiernan |Matt Dursum |Ross Boissoneau |Ellen Miller

Why backyard composting is easier, more impactful, and less stinky than you think By Abby McKiernan | May 10, 2025 Let’s be honest—composting has a bit of a PR problem. Between the fears of weird smells, raccoon invasions, and the myth that you need expensive gear, composting has earned a reputation as something only hardcore environmentalists or people with acres of land take on.

6 days ago | northernexpress.com | Anna Faller |Matt Dursum |Abby McKiernan |Ross Boissoneau

MSU Extension experts share tips for location, soil, plants, and more By Anna Faller | May 10, 2025 A pollinator garden is a habitat designed to benefit pollinators, the animals and insects that help plants reproduce, whose numbers have recently been on the decline around the world due to factors like habitat degradation, climate change, and human interference. In fact, Michigan’s bee population has dropped by more than half throughout the last 15 years.