Reviewer: Sharon Brunner
Tim Mulherin’s “This Magnetic North: Candid Conversations on a Changing Northern Michigan” offers a view of a northern paradise in Michigan and how its residents have dealt with a vast array of adversity. The book took place in Grand Traverse, Leelanau Peninsula areas and Indianapolis. The author’s hometown was the latter location, and the book was about visiting and staying at a cabin in Cedar, which was near Traverse City. The main characters were the author, his wife and the people he interviewed for the book. The time period for the book started during the 1980s until the present. Mulherin introduced an unfamiliar term ”Aspenization” which means a city’s residents catered to tourists at the expense of the residents and working class to make it function. This happened to Traverse City. The pandemic, climate change, invasive species, and crowds of tourists escaping situations such as natural disasters have had a negative impact on the Grand Traverse and Leelanau areas. Many businesses around Michigan, in general, are having trouble filling employment positions after the pandemic. The people Mulherin interviewed expressed an admiration for the Grand Traverse and Leelanau areas and how they worked to make the Northern paradise a better place to live.
Two of the themes in the book were intrusion and escape to nature and smaller populations. Mulherin focused on the Indigenous Perspective in one of the chapters. He interviewed Lora Siders, a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, who was referred to as a historian who taught “The History of the Anishinaabek at Northwestern Michigan College. Sider reported that researchers recently found proof of her tribes’ existence in the Grand Traverse area for the past thirteen thousand years. Manifest Destiny has raised its ugly head for hundreds of years as white settlers took over much of the land from the indigenous. In relation to the escape theme, Mulherin was drawn to the beauty and sparser population of Cedar. Traverse City has been known for its combination of quality of life, climate resiliency, growing workforce, and good demographics. Michigan is not known for hurricanes, tornadoes, or floods, free of most natural disasters. The snow levels in Northern Michigan can be intimidating for the faint of heart. Janet, Mulherin’s wife, did not want to deal with the snow in the Grand Traverse area so she only visited the area during the warmer months and preferred Indianapolis during the winter months.
The book that came to mind when reading this book was “Leelanau: A Portrait of Place in Photographs and Text” by Jerry Dennis. He prepared 12 essays about Leelanau’s roads, old trees, abandoned homesteads, beaches and remembrances of childhood summers. A perfect book for getting to know the area of Leelanau. A film that came to mind was called “Sunfish (and other Stories on Green Lake) by a Traverse City native and featured on Amazon Prime. She highlighted the lakes and landscapes of Northern Michigan, especially the Traverse City area.
The book resonated for me in so many ways and had a lot of good content. My daughter lives at Suttons Bay which is part of the Leelanau Peninsula and she has lived at Traverse City before she moved to Suttons Bay. I have gotten to know the Grand Traverse and Leelanau areas very well. My husband and I explored much of the Leelanau peninsula and we discovered many remote areas, and it was very scenic. I have visited the Sleeping Bear Dunes on several occasions. Hiking is something I do a lot and have found with friends, family and my husband many areas to hike in the aforementioned areas. Traverse City has always been a busy city with no downtime, even Sunday mornings in the city can be bustling. Mulherin participated in a river walk with Heather Smith, the Watershed Center’s Baykeeper. I was a little envious when they trekked along the Boardman-Ottaway River on a sunshiny day in mid-June in 2022. Smith explained how the alliance’s aim was for swimmable, fishable, and drinkable water. Mulherin held an interview with a realtor who had the perfect personality for selling properties. He was outgoing and easy to talk to and sold approximately 1,700 properties. Mulherin did a very good job at describing the people he interviewed.
I recommend This Magnetic North: Candid Conversations on a Changing Northern Michigan for its candid descriptions of the Grand Traverse and Leelanau areas, because of its interesting and informative interviews, for its descriptions of the barriers faced by many of the residents and for its loving commitments of the residents for the Grand Traverse and Leelanau areas. The aforementioned areas are beautiful and scenic. The areas are surrounded by water such as Lake Michigan, lakes and rivers. The interviews that resonated with me the most were in the chapter “Indigenous Perspectives.” Mulherin mentioned books I was familiar with such as “The Mishomis Book” by Edward Benton-Banai and the interviews were very informative. The term Aspenization explained a lot about what the residents have been facing. In spite of the high level of tourism, the staff at many of the businesses as reported by Mulherin are friendly to a fault. I have discovered on many occasions their level of friendliness. The people interviewed demonstrated their love of the areas. Mulherin brought to life in a dynamic fashion the robust interest in northern Michigan for its beauty and hospitality.
Title: This Magnetic North: Candid Conversations on a Changing Northern Michigan
Author: Tim Mulherin
