THIS is a CLOSE-UP?

In less than a week, Michigan voters (well, at least around 20% of registered Michigan voters, if the projections are accurate) will go to the polls to vote on Proposal 1. There have been lots of "Vote Yes" television ads trotting out the big guns and the little people alike, but I remain unconvinced -- I'm voting “no” on Proposal 1 for a variety of reasons. The sales tax increase will give Michigan one of the highest sales taxes in America at 7%, which means that tourism will most likely be negatively impacted, even though we have nice things like abundant water and surly retail providers. This new normal of 7% will have the greatest impact on those with low to middle socioeconomic status -- it's estimated that Proposal 1 will raise taxes by about $200 per year for every person in Michigan, and it's certain that a family of four could find better ways to spend $800 over twelve months. (And let’s remember that when the rich say that the poor don’t pay taxes,

And just like that, it's over two years since my last post. Damn. Since that last post: *I've moved from just outside of Petoskey to just outside of Gaylord *I've watched one of my oldest and best friends beat colon cancer *I've talked about J.G. Ballard in a Palm Springs swimming pool with the director of Deadpool *I've flown to London for a brief vacation and to see Kate Bush perform for the first time in decades *I've traveled over 5000 miles in 33 hours to see Sparks perform with an orchestra in Los Angeles And most importantly, I've gotten married to a wonderful woman who makes me laugh and think and so much more. Lots of fantastic things in my life, thankfully, but this blog absolutely vanished in the process. So while I'm pretty much certain that anything I do here will die a quick digital death, it still feels like something that I might want to resuscitate from time to time. Consider this a dip of the toe back into the sandbox of i