Politics

Mackinac Notebook: Laugh Lines, Intrepid MSU Student, Retro Girls

May 27, 2015, 3:37 PM by  Alan Stamm

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Deadline keeps eyes and ears on the Mackinac Policy Conference by monitoring news coverage, social media and Detroit Public TV livestreaming.

Does 'crowdfunding' = gifts from relatives and pals?

WXYZ's new media director, Seth Myers, was inspired by a MSU political science major who shared a horse-drawn carriage ride on Mackinac Island, so the station posts a video and article with a headline that starts "Meet Grant Bradley."


MSU senior Grant Bradley of Three Rivers, Mich. (WXYZ photo)

During their clip-clop commute, the senior from Three Rivers "explained that he'd crowdfunded his way to the Mackinac Policy Conference," Myers posts Wednesday.

Registration can cost as much as $2,900. And as Grant points out, that doesn't include a place to stay or the gas money to drive this far north.

"I managed to raise everything but the gas money," he told us. . . . He says he made it to Mackinac "through a mixture of GoFundMe and fundraising outside of it." 

Well, the money mix didn't pile up in that order, a look at Bradley's online drive shows. He got $490 from eight donors this spring, just over one-fourth of his posted goal.

That means roughly $2,400 and lodging are covered by unspecified other sources -- perhaps candy sales, street busking or family support? Nothing wrong with any of those good-cause hustles; we're just skeptical about the second part of WXYZ's headline: "Meet Grant Bradley, the Michigan State University student who crowdfunded his way to Mackinac Island."    


Kirk Pinho's first-night island souvenir.

Keyboard comics

Quips about the conference worth sharing:

► Well, I got matches from the Pink Pony, so needless to say, my work at #MPC15 is done. -- Kirk Pinho, Crain's Detroit Business reporter

► I’ve seen more pictures of Matt Helms’ molars than actual information about the conference at this point. And it’s only Day 2. -- Anonymous writer of Mackinac Selfie Conference, a parody Tumblr

► Networking on the [Grand] Hotel’s famous porch in between conference sessions . . . is the Super Bowl of Schmoozing. -- Matt Friedman, communication strategist, in blog post

► Almost just got into horse cab with Doris Kearns Goodwin. -- Nancy Kaffer, Detroit Free Press politics columnist and editorial writer


Caption me! [ Your creativity can go here. ]

Caption contest

It's not really a contest if you take that to mean a prize. But for those who want to share cleverness for news site glory and social media shouts, let's play:

This portion of a staged photo snapped Tuesday afternoon shows two of the four Retro Girls, Detroit personalities ("event usherettes" Renee, Madge, Gabbey and Paige) brought to the island by Detroit fashion boutique owner Rachel Lutz of Midtown's Peacock Room and other merchants to promote a Building Bridges to Small Businesses event.

Set aside the serious subtext and tell us in a comment below or on Facebook what this shot says about a late spring circus conference with hundreds of journalists, politicians, executives, publicists and civic leaders to "our state’s most prestigious policy and networking event.," as Grand Hotel president R.D. Musser III puts it in a Detroiter magazine welcome message.

Thought starters:

  • Does the ladies' new friend have anything in common with some conference attendees?
  • Does the vintage look match the mindset of . . . well, you tell us.
  • No need to invite horse poop humor, right?  

Have at it, players.

Original post, 9:15 a.m. Wednesday:

Clarification: This item is based on an an erroneous assumption that the magazine cover figures were random. We now know they represent 14 people speaking at the conference or with role in Detroit's economic recovery -- information not available online, but which should have been requested from the chamber before posting.

We apologize for our misstep, now corrected in a follow-up. This original remains here for transparency.    

We hesitate to over-interpret a LEGO-style illustration on the latest Detroiter magazine. Graphic artwork isn't a Census chart, after all.

Still, at a Mackinac Island conference where a forum on "Uniting Two Detroits" is already a flashpoint, and where a Detroit Unspun blogger covering the event resists being lumped with the "Michigan elite," it seems insensitive to represent mainly non-minority faces on a publication given out Wednesday by the Detroit Regional Chamber at its Michigan Policy Conference.     

The quarterly magazine's lead article is by Gov. Rick Snyder on "Michigan's Talented Future." He says:

Michigan is home to the most talented people in the nation . . . [including] the folks making state-of-the-art watches in Detroit. There is no greater talent than what is homegrown. Our challenge is to keep that talent here in Michigan.

And the chamber's challenges include -- or should include -- reflecting our state's diversity with more than two African Americans drawn at the lower left and two others on a balcony at the upper right, apparently. (So tiny, it's tough to tell.)

We invited a response from Jim Martinez, the chamber's communications director, and will add it in full when received.

Deadline is not at the Mackinac Policy Conference and hasn't seen the print magazine.



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