September 2006

Garden of Allusions: Oakwood Cemetery
Designers of nineteenth-century "landscape cemeteries" believed that nature and art could lighten the burden of despondent mourners. But as he wanders the historic Oakwood Cemetery in Traverse City, writer Alex Moore finds solace in the immortality of literature.

Digital Distraction and the End of Community?
Communication devices and portable media players are everywhere, revolutionizing the way we do business, build communities, and relate to each other. As the first members of the Internet Generation join the workforce, head off to college, and begin to vote, Joe VanderMeulen wonders how portable communications and entertainment devices will change our relationship to home, community and nature.

Tough Little Beauties
Icy winds and blowing sand might not faze the Dwarf Lake Iris, but even this most intrepid of flowers cannot survive the destruction of its environment. Bioregionalist Stephanie Mills champions the nature preserves that are helping to save the iris and other once-common species now becoming disturbingly rare.

The Moundbuilders on Old Mission Point
Author Carolyn Lewis walks back in time on Old Mission Peninsula, searching for burial mounds built by the area's earliest human inhabitants. While vestiges of nineteenth-century life are much easier to find, Lewis ponders the future of peninsula's historic structures and native species.

Sleeping Bear: Preserving a Special Place

When it attempted to update its general management plan for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in 2002, the National Park Service ran into so much opposition that it shut down the process. Now it's trying again -- this time with proposed wilderness designations on the table. Park Superintendent Dusty Schultz says some hard decisions lie ahead, but she urges everyone who cares about the park to get involved.

What Are Neighbors For?
Claude, who gets services from Community Mental Health, is not the type of resident that planners and developers envision as they work to transform Traverse City neighborhoods into havens for hipsters. But Peter Payette, Claude's neighbor, argues that a truly "cool" city will have a place for everyone.

A Discussion with Three County Planners
The lack of affordable housing in and near the Traverse City area and Leelanau County is influencing a dispersed pattern of residential development in our region according to the lead planners for Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau County. The three professional planners recently joined the editors of YourPlace for a conversation about their jobs and recent planning issues.