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Grand Marais is a good place to live. So is the whole North Shore of Lake Superior, the North Coast of our United States of America. The evidence:
Sunday last, I was privileged to attend a joint service of the First Congregational and Spirit of the Wilderness Churches. The focus of that service and the next Sunday on Maple Hill is saving the planet from too much of the wrong kind of human occupation.
Jazz music for the 60 folk there was provided by Mike Debevec and Friends. They included Karina Roth (choir director and soloist), David Nelson (Guitar/Bass), Erik Hahn (Saxophones), Phyllis Anderson (Oboe), Eric Anderson (Trombone), and members of both church’s choirs.
The cooperation is characteristic of North Shore people and institutions. The music by gifted folk who don’t make their livings with music was compelling. And the focus on threats to Nature is a constant theme of North Shore folk. We are blessed with abundant Nature— trees, water, Northern Lights, and wildlife of all kinds. Most of us don’t want to see either of the proposed mining projects until they have been proven safe elsewhere.
Additional evidence: that same day afternoon some 200 of us attended the 25th Anniversary Party of Cook County Higher Education. Funded 75 percent by state money, it expands the horizons and opportunities of all of us. A 20-year chef told of his new career as a nurse, the needed education mostly paid for from CCHE resources. We learned from Executive Director Karen Blackburn of the rehabbed Laptop program ($50), the 24/7 availability of the basement computer center, and other programs. Board Chair Bill Youmans, also a pickleballer, introduced staff and volunteers. The message for all was “you have an educational need, try us.” mycche.org.
In addition to the all-volunteer Board, most of the volunteer North Shore Swing Band shared its danceable music with both Eric/ks, Hahn and Anderson, in food form. And another of our pickleball colleagues and former Coop chair was playing trumpet while a few couples, including more YMCA pickleballers, danced and the rest of us tapped our toes near our lawn chairs. www.facebook.com/groups/1695028334050728.
Both the church and CCHE events show how much our good life depends on volunteering and cooperation. And the presence of our State Representative Ecklund and Senate Candidate Hauschild gives continued hope for needed resources.
More evidence: Monday, I was privileged to officiate at the wedding of two folks who work at our food Coop. They chose the pier at Hovland for the venue and some 20 folks came to be surrounded on three sides by Lake Superior and support the new couple. One of these days, the funds and will to rehab that pier will be found.
There are many good places in this country. There are many examples of volunteerism and cooperation.
But our home area is special. Soon, that volunteerism and cooperation will lead to having enough affordable housing for all our people, here now and coming here when housing is created.
Don’t bet against it. The Housing Authority is seeking to create about 60 units. www.cookcountyil.gov/agency/housing-authority-cook-county. And the Cook County Real Estate Fund is looking at 40 affordable units. The Cook County Real Estate Fund moves forward with first two development projects | WTIP. Let’s help those projects come together so more folks can share in our place of cooperation, volunteerism, and natural beauty.
We are privileged to live here. (Don’t tell anyone, or everyone will want to….)
Steve Aldrich is a retired Hennepin County lawyer, judge, and mediator, serving as judge from 1997-2010. He and his wife moved here in 2016. He likes to remember that he was a Minnesota Super Family Lawyer before being elected to the bench. Now he is among the most vulnerable to viruses. Steve really enjoys doing weddings, the one thing a retired judge can do without appointment by the Chief Justice. He writes this column to learn more about his new home area and to share his learnings with others—and to indulge his curiosities. Bouquets and brickbats to the editor or stevealdrich41@gmail.com. Copyright Stephen C. Aldrich and News Herald, 2022
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