Monthly Archives: April 2011

UP THE ROUGE! at West Bloomfield

Writer Joel Thurtell will talk about the book, UP THE ROUGE! PADDLING DETROIT’S HIDDEN RIVER at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 1, 2011 at the West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation center. An exhibit of Detroit Free press photographer Patricia Beck’s … Continue reading

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I’m an artist!

By Joel Thurtell For the argument to work, you must agree that I am an artist. I’ll assume that much. Otherwise, my reasoning is high and dry. Je suis artiste. There, a declaration in French is always so much more … Continue reading

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Cathedral of Finance

Here is another of those stories from 2008 that used to appear on my howtostopabankrun blog, now kaput. By Joel Thurtell In the wee hours of Tuesday, February 14, 1933, Michigan’s new Democratic governor, William Comstock, emerged from the posh … Continue reading

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CROSS PURPOSES debuts

Hardalee Press published Joel Thurtell’s debut novel today: CROSS PURPOSES, OR, IF NEWSPAPERS HAD COVERED THE CRUCIFIXION. The significance? It’s Good Friday, and most of the action in CROSS PURPOSES happens on a Good Friday. In fact, the novel pretends … Continue reading

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What a Muslim taught us about Christmas

By Floyd Inkjet JOTR Book Review Editor Once upon a time, two American Peace Corp volunteers were facing a lonely Christmas in the sub-Sahara. They were thousands of miles from family and friends. They had each other, true. But they … Continue reading

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A “progressive” tax

By Rich Sob JOTR Fat Cat I don’t make any excuse. I’ve got lots of money. More than I could possibly spend. And I want more. But know what I REALLY want? Two things: no more class war, and a … Continue reading

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Turning an old boat mold into a new sailboat

By Floyd Inkjet JOTR Book Review Editor Was it magic? Anything but, writes reporter, author and blogger Joel Thurtell in this collection of essays about the joys and trials of transforming an industrial artifact into a functioning sailboat. PLUG NICKEL … Continue reading

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Plug in the Bay

Written by Joel Thurtell Photographs by Adam Thurtell I thought I had everything I’d need for the job — a 100-foot tow rope, lines for tying the boat to docks, my tool box and one of those compartmentalized plastic tackle … Continue reading

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Harold Collins and his wonderful 75A

    This story originally ran in the January, 2003, issue of the amateur radio magazine, QST By Joel Thurtell One crisp Saturday afternoon in October 2001 I chanced to see the red light blinking on my Radiofinder answering machine. … Continue reading

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Nothing new here

More tax cuts would be gluttony in a time of starvation. That is not America. That is a nation about to be plundered, and a people laid to waste. — Charles M. Blow, The New York Times, April 16, 2011 … Continue reading

Posted in Adventures in history, Adventures on the Rouge, Bad government | 1 Comment