Welcome to Screen Tea Podcast; Surprise, we’re still alive! And we’re swinging into 2022 with the biggest hit of last year: Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Category Archive: Culture
University of Michigan economist Gabe Ehrlich predicts Michigan will almost fully recover the 1 million-plus jobs lost during the pandemic by the end of next year but “high inflation is part of the price we’re paying for a fast recovery.”
WSV reader Jonathan Rice writes, “The old Blackberrys stopped working a little while ago. I remember the first time I saw someone use a Blackberry, I was with a coworker. She pulled out a calculator, did some math, and then she put the calculator up to her ear and started talking to herself. ‘Oh s**t,’ I thought. She’s lost it.”
WSV’s Amy East writes, “And, at that point, that’s when I realize I’ve come to a crossroads. I realize I’ve been walking around cut off from myself, numbing myself to the pain, yes, but also numbing myself to the beauty too. As I stand at the crossroads, I know that down one road lies the same — protected and predictable, yet numb — and down the other lies uncertainty — and the ability to feel alive again.”
“The famous New Year’s Eve ball has fallen in New York (and in Three Rivers), and it is now January 2022. Typically this is the time where people make New Year’s resolutions and use the phrase ‘New year, new me.’ Well, I’m here to tell you that this year I promise to be the same hot mess Steph you have come to know and love.”
WSV columnist Deborah Haak-Frost writes, “In this list, I share my top five Sow Good Seeds columns of 2021. My hope is that they may invite you to see yourself more deeply in the context of this planet, to consider a perspective you may not have had previously, to plant some seeds in your mind about how our lives are so intricately interwoven with the natural world.”
#MomLife is a window that looks into all things motherhood and family. Steph Hightree published 22 columns in 2021 with plans for many more next year. Here are Steph’s Top 5 favorite columns.
Big World, Small Town columnist Charles Thomas ranks what he believes are his five best columns of 2021.
Ana Luis and Malachi A+scribe look back at this season’s episodes (1-13ish) of The Unconditional Series for final reflections and A+scribe’s personal unconditioning journey in Part I of this episode. In Part II, the dynamic duo recap the final installments of The Unconditional Series (12-17), and reflect on the season as a whole, while looking forward to Season 3.
Executive Editor Alek Haak-Frost writes, “We are a polarized nation, we pick sides, and more often than not choose hate over love. Kids have noticed and are taking their cues from the way adults in their lives behave. We have a responsibility as a nation, as human beings, to shift our focus from simple solutions brought on by knee jerk reactions in the heat of the moment, and instead start to do the real work.”
WSV’s Dan Robinson writes, “There’s nothing like a good question. A good question can send us down paths of discovery, or surprise us with an answer out of left field, or point the way to a different future. As I discovered during my recent conversation with Seamus Norgaard, the Host and Director of Tara’s Meadow Retreat and Education Center on Beaver Island, a good question played a role in his own spiritual journey.”
WSV’s Charles Thomas writes, “The honest truth is that many of us feel sad around Christmas time. If that’s where you are this year, please know that you are not alone.”
WSV’s Steph Hightree writes why her son won’t receive a PS4 from Santa this year or any other year, for that matter.
Dr. Farhan Bhatti writes, “While breakthrough cases among those who got the Johnson&Johnson vaccine or the two doses of Pfizer or Moderna do happen, make no mistake — this surge is being driven by unvaccinated individuals.”
Welcome to Screen Tea Podcast! Come back to the mystical 90s with Lisha & Jules as they cover Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut, the musical-movie adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick…BOOM!
David Hecker writes, “This latest push to defund public schools began in the Legislature, where Republican lawmakers passed bills that would create tax credits for “scholarship funds” that could be used at non-public schools, which is just a more roundabout way of taking public money that should be spent on public education and putting it into private schools. Thankfully, Governor Whitmer continued to stand on the side of public schools and vetoed the legislation, but the fight to stop this latest DeVos-backed initiative isn’t over.”
WSV’s Steph Hightree writes, “When did I make Christmas all about presents, and less about traditions and family time? I remember the first year I was a mother. I was so excited to buy Cadence gifts, even though she was only 3 months old at the time. She would never know what she was receiving. She wouldn’t even be able to open the gifts. But that wasn’t the point. I just loved the act of giving her things. And it has progressed every year since then. The gifts have become more elaborate, the quantity has increased, the price more expensive. But do they really appreciate the work that I put into this every year?”
WSV’s Nancy Boyd writes about embracing the secular and the spiritual aspects of the holiday season.