The following post was written by a close friend of mine, Mark Ferguson, a self-described “absolutely worst sort of privileged white male with degrees from Michigan State University, Indiana University, and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.” Enjoy. Let’s talk about gun legislation Are your hackles raised yet? It’s a touchy subject fraught with knee-jerk responses. We need to get […]

The following guest post was written by Sean McBrearty, Campaigns Organizer for Clean Water Action in Michigan. Enjoy. Last week in a legislative session that went until the early hours of Thursday morning, both chambers of the Michigan Legislature passed the budget for 2017. Included in the budget omnibus bill is $114.3 million in emergency supplemental funding for solutions to […]

The following guest post was written by Jen Eyer, Vice President of Vanguard Public Affairs. Jen has spent many years in the world of journalism and most recently managed the newsroom for The Ann Arbor News, part of the MLive Media Group. You can read her full bio HERE. Enjoy. As Michiganders, we should all be concerned about the way […]

Last year, Tali Wendrow penned two guest posts for Eclectablog. In the first, she described the outrageous treatment her family received at the hands of former Oakland County Prosecuter David Gorcyca and his staff. Here’s what Tali wrote in that piece: In late 2007, our family suffered a nightmare of enormous proportion as my husband was charged with the worst […]

The following guest post was written by Ned Staebler, founder of the Michigan Talent Agenda. I’ve hesitated to write this for several reasons, not the least of which is that I hoped it wouldn’t be necessary. I hoped that, at some point, Republican Party voters would come to their senses. I hoped that GOP leaders would step up and be […]

The following post was written by Sean McBrearty, Campaigns Organizer for Clean Water Action. Flint Rising, the coalition of community groups who have been combating the water crisis, has officially launched its website, FlintRising.com. The site is packed with stories from Flint residents and continues the great work that local activists have been doing on the ground to meet the […]

The following guest post was written by my friend Chris Armstrong, Partnerships and Government Affairs Director for Small Business Majority. Chris was the former student body president of University of Michigan and experienced first hand the corrosive impacts of anti-gay bigotry at the hands of former state Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell who stalked and harassed him during his time […]

The following essay was written by Mitchell Robinson and is cross-posted on his most-excellent blog at MitchellRobinson.net. Robinson is associate professor and chair of music education, and coordinator of the music student teaching program at Michigan State University. Follow Mitchell on Twitter at @mrobmsu. His essay is reposted here with permission. Enjoy. A major plank of most education reform agendas […]

Today’s guest post is by Laura Packard, a partner at PowerThru Consulting, a growing national progressive digital consulting shop. Enjoy. Now that Snyder has effectively ruined our state brand, we should be thinking about what it is we DO want to be known for. We’ll have the chance to replace him in 2018 (or maybe even sooner, if he steps […]

The following guest post was written by Nate Breznau of Mannheim Centre for European Social Research. He is the co-author of a new study that looked at the disparate racial impact of Michigan’s Emergency Manager law, Public Act 436. The academic study proves that the elements involved in the imposition of an Emergency Manager in a city go beyond simple […]

The following guest post was written by Amy McKeever, a Pontiac School District teacher and the President of the Pontiac Education Association. Enjoy. While much attention has been focused on the horrendous condition of Detroit Public School buildings, the health and safety concerns are no less dire in the Pontiac School District, where the majority of buildings are over 50 […]