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Faster. Better. Cheaper.

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Little known fact: The US military is the largest supply chain in the world.

My supply chain management education will always color the way I view things.  At times, I wish it didn’t.  In education, I like to believe that most students will find their way, eventually.  Most will find their purpose.  I feel for those who don’t, but it is a reality of life.  There are always those who remain lost, and sadly, I’ve known a few.  I can help, but I can’t be everything to everyone.

With supply chain issues, there is a solution.  There is always a solution.  We just need the resolve to follow through and make necessary changes.  We learned so many supply chain and economic lessons from the Greatest Generation and World War II, but as that generation passed away, I fear that we have lost those lessons or even ignored them completely.

Let me start at the beginning.  I am deeply proud to come from a long line of entrepreneurs.  I long idolized my dad and Grandpa Buttrick.  Both owned and ran their own companies and were self-employed, as different as their companies were and still are.  My dad developed Russell Canoe Livery around our family and our lifestyle.  He had no desire to build it beyond what it is now, even if we had the opportunity.  

Grandpa, on the other hand, loved to build.  He expanded his convenience store business into screen printing, Subway franchises, propane, hotels, and more.  He even loved to compete against himself from time to time.  As a child who loved to build, I took notice.  In having the opportunity to manage one of his convenience stores for a few years, I am grateful to have learned just why Grandpa loved the c-store business so much.  Ultimately, it helped me become a better manager at the canoe livery and a more empathetic boss.

While this cover is exactly how I remember it, it must be an updated version!
No WI-Fi in the 80s and 90s!

As a child, one of the most fascinating books I owned was The Way Things Work by David Macaulay.  I wanted to know how and why things worked.  Looking back, this helps explain why I chose supply chain.  It fit the bill.  I knew I didn’t want to study management.  I wanted to know exactly how value was added, and not just become increasingly removed from day-to-day operations that actually pay the bills.  Accounting and finance never even entered the picture.  In fact, my mom and I joke that we would starve if we had to try and make a living as accountants.  I am decent at math, but I make errors far too often, and it is not my thing.

I do have two older cousins who earned supply chain degrees from Michigan State and blazed the trail, but as my older cousin Emily tried to sell me on supply chain, it made me look at the program more critically.  Instead, my experiences at the Broad Business Student Camp (BBSC) after my junior year of high school sold me on Michigan State and supply chain management.  During that week attending BBSC, I had the opportunity to explore State’s incomparable campus, everything the Eli Broad College of Business had to offer, as well as all things supply chain.  In short, I had the opportunity to preview what my life would be like as a Michigan State business student with one of my best friends.  What was not to like?  By the time my parents dropped me off at MSU in August of 1999, I had to kick them out of my dorm room as I had already connected with student groups in the business school, and I was not going to be late for the first meeting.

Now you know why I never wavered in my pursuit of my supply chain degree, in spite of the fact that, deep down, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher as well.  As for the deeper lessons that stayed with me and kept me up at night, it all started with a business history class I took during the winter of 2000, the very heights of the dot.com bubble.  In fact, the bubble burst that consumed that spring forced me to pay attention.  My history professor, in fact, predicted the fall of the stock market (the dot.com bubble) publicly almost as soon as classes started in January.  When it finally happened in March, as a 19 year old, it left a deep impression.  However, as memorable as that experience was, this is not primarily why I remember this class 25 years later.

Instead, my professor’s description and explanation of how Detroit became the “arsenal of democracy” still sends shivers down my spine.  He made the case that the United States and the Allies would not have won World War II without Detroit.  While I knew Detroit played an important part in the war, I didn’t realize just how important.  Supposedly, when Hitler received intelligence of manufacturing totals coming out of Detroit, he didn’t believe it.  Those who had gained manufacturing experience in cities like Detroit, especially Detroit, would turn their focus to the war effort.

When you think of the manufacturing capability we had during that time, the early 20th century, it makes sense. We were able to help supply Great Britain long before we officially entered the war after Pearl Harbor.  Thanks to FDR, we switched from manufacturing consumer goods to munitions.  We went from cars and refrigerators to tanks and aircraft.  This is the question that keeps me up at night:  Would we be able to do so again if faced with such a crisis?  I don’t know.

Actually, I doubt it, as the way things are now.  Born at the end of 1980, I’ve watched my entire life as Michigan lived up to its “rust belt” image.  Most of the business professionals I graduated with in 2004, me included, had to relocate to states such as Texas and California to find jobs.  When my parents graduated from college in the late 70s, there were still good manufacturing jobs to be had right out of high school, although that would soon come to an end.  I grew up hearing of plant closures, manufacturing outsourcing, and general loss of manufacturing capability in the United States.  It is all I knew. By the time I sought to start my career, little remained.  Instead, less secure positions with multinationals outsourcing much of their labor to places like China, Mexico, and India took their place, particularly in the shadow of the first dot.com bust.

By the time I interned with IBM out in Rochester, Minnesota during the summer of 2001, not only did they not have enough for their interns to do, their full-time, permanent employees didn’t either.  Instead, they were focusing on their garage bands and updating their resumes.  In 2003, as part of a tour of a GM factory in Mexico near the border, I vividly remember seeing rows upon rows upon rows of brand new Pontiac Azteks and Buick Rendezvous awaiting shipment as our chartered bus slowly approached the plant.  Looking back, it foreshadowed Pontiacs epic downfall several years later. Tragically, Pontiac would never recover from the monstrosity that was the Pontiac Aztek.

My last semester at Michigan State in 2004 brought the Eli Broad College of Business’s first Chinese Supply Chain Symposium.  Of course, it focused on all of the wonderful benefits of outsourcing manufacturing to China.  I left wondering if I was the only one asking just how long before we were outsourcing our own jobs?  Where and when would it end?  Was I the only one seeing the connection between outsourcing and both unemployment and underemployment in the United States?

Even Russell Canoe Livery has a supply chain,
one with its own set of challenges and setbacks.

I will leave you with this summary.  We desperately need to bring manufacturing back to this country.  If you think the supply chain interruptions during the COVID 19 pandemic were bad (and I followed them closely), what would happen in the case of an even worse global crisis?  Good manufacturing jobs helped finance the growth of the middle class throughout most of the 20th century, particularly after World War II.  Why can’t we get back there?  We’ve learned so much during that time, and we have the workforce, if given a chance.  I hope I live to see it.  By the way, this doesn’t mean becoming isolationist.  It is simply expanding beyond the pharmaceutical, technology, and service industries.  Supporting local farms wouldn’t hurt either!  Cheap is good, but it is not always best in the long-run.  We’ve remained far too short-sighted and complacent for far too long.

Mom, Dad, and I – MSU Spring 2001
Grandma Reid and I – MSU Spring 2001 – One of the best business women I’ve ever known!
Mom, Dad, and I – Spring 2001
Tower Guard Induction – Beaumont Tower, Michigan State University
In honor of Grandma Reid, who worked as a riveter in both Hamtramck, MI and Fort Worth, TX during the World War II era, all before the age of 20.

Creative Space

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One of my biggest projects this school year – so far – is to establish a creative writing club for our high school.  I started with a vision and my previous experience of working with my teacher bestie, Dorri, to start a writing club at my previous school.  To say that I learned from that experience is an understatement.

In that club Dorri and I worked to establish at St. Michael School, we dealt with technology issues, age differences (serving young middle grade students as well as middle school students), not to mention the hazards of the COVID 19 pandemic.  It is crazy to think that we achieved anything at all.  Yet, we did in a small way, even if the larger St. Michael community didn’t always recognize it.

We may have had a small core of roughly half a dozen students, but they were truly interested.  They eagerly learned from one another.  My 7th and 8th students demonstrated patience with Dorri’s 3rd graders, many of whom were just learning how to more fully express themselves in writing, expanding their thinking along with their vocabulary.  Dorri’s 3rd graders brought enthusiasm and fresh perspectives to their older peers’ projects.

When I started at Michigan Virtual Charter Academy this past fall, I knew that I wanted to become involved in some kind of club.  While I knew that we had a well-developed esports program, I didn’t exactly know what other clubs were offered.  It turned out that while we offer an academic creative writing class, we did not have a creative writing club.  Well, I sought to change that.  So far, I have succeeded.

At the beginning of the school year, I focused on creating an online classroom full of resources I could have only dreamed of as a high school student in love with writing.  There are dozens of websites to explore, hundreds of writing prompts, inspiring quotes, book recommendations, and so much more.  Then, I watched over several weeks as my students connected and explored common interests.  They grew as writers and found the confidence to share their work and a little bit about themselves.  Students then spent much of the semester writing pieces intended for eventual publication, likely a blog.  What happened next, I did not see coming.

We may have to wait until next school year to publish anything, but not only are both the  principal and assistant principal extremely supportive, our head of school now knows about the project.  In fact, I’ve received nothing but positive feedback.  Right now, I am working on helping to ensure we keep moving ahead in the right direction.  Who knows where this will take us?  Already, I have had two new club members join in the first few weeks of this new semester.  They’ve fit in seamlessly, which is a testament to the culture my students created.  I am incredibly proud of what they’ve achieved!

Becoming Ms. Russell

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I did not set out to become a teacher, I left that to my younger sister Erica.  As her older sister, I’ve never known her to want to be anything other than a teacher and a mother.  I envied the fact that she was so certain about her desired profession, not to mention her dedication to her love of children.  When we played school – and we did often – I ended up being the school librarian while she insisted on being the teacher.  Until our younger brother was born when I was age 10 and Erica age 7, we didn’t have a single pupil.  By the time he was two, Erica made our toddler brother a series of report cards, grading him on things like “listening” and “sitting still.”  But, this isn’t my sister’s story.  It is mine.

My story of pursuing a career as a secondary teacher is by no means conventional.  In fact, it is so unconventional and challenging that I would recommend it to no one.  If it weren’t for the facts that teaching is in my DNA and I am meant to be a teacher, I would have given up long, long ago.  Instead, I doubled-down when I was faced with what at the time seemed to be insurmountable obstacles.  I even went back to substitute teaching when needed while deciding what my next step would be.  I am a better person, and teacher, for it.

Every story needs to start somewhere, and mine starts with the statement that teaching is in my blood.  It truly is.  As a genealogist, as far as I can tell, the teaching tradition goes back at least five generations on my mom’s side of the family.  It likely goes back even further.  Both of Mom’s grandmothers taught, and one of her grandfathers served as principal of his daughters’ elementary school, as well as coach.   

Interestingly, the teaching careers of my great-grandmothers could not have been more different.  I knew both Grammy Bea (Beatrice Williams), who taught kindergarten and first grade for decades at the height of the baby boom, and Great (Leona Buttrick), who taught in a one-room schoolhouse and quit teaching once she married my great-grandfather Hatley.  Although these are stories for another time, their careers illustrate massive changes in public education.

Funnily enough, the teaching tradition isn’t exactly confined to mom’s side of the family.  Even though neither of my dad’s parents had the opportunity to further their education, they highly encouraged their children to do so.  Both did, and even though my dad and his sister didn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye on much of anything, I find it telling that they both married teachers.  On the Suszko side of Dad’s family, there are several special education and agricultural teachers.  In fact, my cousin Kristy, a woman with whom I attended school at all levels from kindergarten to college, now teaches dairy science at the university level.

As much as I did not want to admit it, I am a teacher.  It took me far too long to make peace with that fact.  Something inside me would not let it go.  As soon as I graduated from Michigan State in 2004 with degrees in supply chain management and Spanish, my entire world shifted.  It would not be made right again until I went back to school in 2013.

It all started during the Great Recession with a casual conversation with my ex’s mom Cindy.  We were invited to dinner as usual, and Cindy and I struck up a conversation.  She told me that she wished that she’d gone back to school to become a nurse.  All I could think at the time was that I did not want to be in my 50s and regret not pursuing an interest.  During the Christmas shopping season of 2008, I worked at Best Buy in   Saginaw.  As I lived in the South End of Bay City at the time, I drove by Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) every day on my way to work.  Slowly, I started to wonder what would happen if I did decide to go back to school to become a teacher.  The idea excited me and fed my imagination. How could I make it happen?  How would I adjust?  Online classes, in their infancy back in 2004, intimidated me.

Eventually, I had the ability to make it happen in 2013.  I largely enjoyed my time at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), although I would advise commuter students to do their homework.  For example, if I had not followed up with my advisor, I would have stressed out about the math portion of the general MTTC exam necessary to even apply to the College of Education.  I didn’t necessarily doubt my ability to do higher-level math likely trigonometry and low-level calculus, but I had not remotely touched those subjects in well over a decade.  The thought terrified me. Much to my relief, my counselor informed me that I scored high enough on the ACT test I took in high school that I did not need to take the general MTTC at all.  I then questioned why I wasn’t informed earlier.  She simply stated that it likely stemmed from the fact that I was a commuter and a non-traditional student.  While I would highly recommend SVSU to traditional college students coming right from high school, I’m not so sure in other situations.

I enjoyed most of my classes and professors at both Delta College and SVSU, but I can’t say that I didn’t have any bad experiences.  In fact, one professor and class at SVSU stands out for all of the wrong reasons.  This particular professor taught a class that focused on diversity.  However, somehow, throughout the entire semester, he managed to offend nearly everyone in the class.  Horribly.  He supposedly hated coaches.  When I ran into a former classmate in a school setting years later, we naturally discussed this infamous class and professor.  This man, who happened to coach as well as teach, informed me that this professor tried to get him removed from the College of Education program, likely because he planned to coach.

Somehow, this professor appeared to have no issue with me or one of my good friends, even though he had long ago deeply offended us both.  As we paired up to complete our main teaching project for the course, things fell apart.  When it came time to “teach” our project, our professor respected my teaching time and even seemed pleased.  Then, he proceeded to continually interrupt my friend and teaching partner for her entire portion of the project.  He made it exceedingly difficult for her to even finish.  Already extraordinarily introverted, I have no idea how she made it through.  Disrespectful doesn’t even begin to cover it.  Unfortunately, she never did become a teacher, although she would have been wonderful.  Instead, she became a librarian.  To this day, I still believe that the world needs introverted teachers too.  There are too many people like this professor that discourage future teachers every step of the way before they even get started.

Stay tuned … There is much more to this story.

Not just my favorite TED Talk on education and teaching, my favorite TED Talk period.

Rita Pierson’s famous Ted Talk on Education – Well worth watching!

Thirty-One – The One Where We Say Goodbye

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I found out that direct sales company Thirty-One, named after the Bible passage in Proverbs 31 that describes a virtuous wife, is closing at the end of the year.  Approximately a decade ago, I sold for a handful of direct sales companies hoping that one would stick and that I had inherited a few of the skills that led to Grandma Reid’s successful 40 year direct sales career.  She only stopped when she could no longer find a quality women’s clothing direct sales company to carry.  In fact, she outlasted several companies, namely Minnesota Woolen, Queensway, and Beeline.  I still happen to have an adorable small stained glass plaque advertising Beeline, bees and all.  I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it.  I had to at least try.

At the time, I tried selling Avon, PartyLite, and of course, Thirty-One.  Handsdown, Thirty-One is the one that captured my heart.  If it hadn’t become so oversaturated, I would probably still be selling it.  Avon needed no introduction and offered high quality products.  The problem became that they ran new catalog campaigns every two weeks.  If you are doing anything else, and I mean anything else, it quickly becomes unsustainable.  PartyLite offered great products too – I had done my homework – but nothing ever stood out as special to me.  As much as I personally loved burning candles, I stopped years ago due to the damage constant candle use can do to walls and ceilings.  Even candle and wax warmers can be extremely messy when you want to change scents.

That left Thirty-One.  By the time I decided to stop carrying PartyLite and Avon, I became undecided with Thirty-One.  I still loved the company and the products.  At the time, I also started substitute teaching several days a week while earning my teaching certificate.  Every single teacher’s lounge contained the latest Thirty-One catalogs, an open party, and the business card of a consultant.  How can you compete against that?  Not easily.  I knew I had to move on, not matter how much I loved and believed in the product.

Speaking of Thirty-One products, I have quite the collection.  After ten years of constant use, most of my items are still in near perfect condition.  I’ll have them for years to come.  I may have spent a chunk of change upfront, but in my case, I have no regrets.  I use them daily.  Thirty-One bags may have been at a fairly high pricepoint, but they were worth the money.  Oh, and adorable too!

They’re the same thing, right?

Here’s the thing:  Thirty-One knew – and still knows – their audience.  Their bags are functional and stylish.  They targeted busy moms of faith who needed the right tools to haul all the gear everywhere.  Of course, they wanted to look good doing it, too.  No wonder I saw teachers heavily targeted!  In the future, when I look back at the 2010s, Thirty-One bags will certainly be a part of the aesthetic.  In other words, if I were responsible for designing an American Girl doll representing the decade of the 2010s, she would certainly have Thirty-One bags as go-to accessories.  By the way, American Girl absolutely slayed their dolls representing the 80s and 90s, but that is another story entirely.  I could not have done a better job myself.

Sadly, I doubt that there will ever be another Thirty-One.  They knew their target market because it was created by a busy mom on the go for other busy moms of faith.  Whether we like it or not, women carry the mental load in our society – married, single, with or without children; it doesn’t matter.  Women are tasked for making a house a home, remembering all the things for everyone, not to mention organizing life in general.  As a woman and teacher, it is just true, and it is the reason why my Thirty-One bags have come in so damned handy over the years.  If I were still in business school, I’d love to do a case study on Thirty-One to see where it all went wrong. By the way, if you are under the impression that business is dull and boring, think again.

Not The End, The Beginning – Part 3

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Cousin fun on the Rifle River, Omer, Michigan. June 2023

Part 1

Part 2

This year will mark my 12th year back working at Russell Canoe Livery.  Each year, I love it even more and appreciate what my parents and grandparents built.  Without the canoe livery, pursuing my teaching career, and student teaching in particular, would not have been possible.  None of it would have been an option.  Only when I returned to the family business in 2013 did I fully understand just how much my mom contributed to the canoe livery.  After retiring from teaching in 2010, Mom became more involved in the business.  Only in 2013 did I begin to take over some of her responsibilities.  I had to reconsider what I wanted and the narrative I had created for myself.

Growing up, I always looked up to my dad and Grandpa Buttrick.  Both businessmen, I saw how both had created a life for themselves using family businesses.  In Dad’s case, the seasonal nature of the canoe livery allowed him to pursue other interests and provide us with a great quality of life.  As his sidekick, I grew up watching Dad making decisions about the business.  Prior to building the Crystal Creek shower house in 1992, I went with him to check out similar showerhouses.  One of my earliest memories is going with Dad in his truck to unclog the artesian well across the road in Crystal Creek Campground.  I used to argue with him when Erica and I would catch the bus from our house behind Crystal Creek to our main location in Omer.  He, of course, wanted us to ride in his bus.  Knowing that he wouldn’t let me bounce around in the back of the bus, I wanted to ride with anyone else.  Dad often won.

Grandpa Buttrick, on other hand, moved his young family from Marshall, Michigan to Standish, Michigan to take over his grandfather’s business:  Forward Corporation.  On our yearly trip to the Upper Peninsula with my Buttrick grandparents and cousins, we always had to stop in Gaylord to check on his convenience stores.  He loved the business, and due to a unique set of circumstances, I managed one of his convenience stores for a few years.  Through that experience, I learned just why he loved that business so much.  If I hadn’t moved back to Michigan in 2005, I would not have had the opportunity to get to know Grandpa Buttrick so well before he passed away in 2007.  Like teaching, business runs deep in my blood.

Late 90s at Russell Canoe Livery.
Hard at work!

When I graduated in 1999, I attended Michigan State University to pursue a business degree in supply chain management.  I quickly decided to pursue a Spanish degree too.  I couldn’t give it up.  Both of my older cousins earned degrees in supply chain management from MSU as well.  I knew the program, and frankly, the subject still fascinates me.  Even though I didn’t end up with a long career in supply chain, those experiences during my years at MSU made a deep impression on me and still shape how I view the world.

The processes of working so closely with my parents on all things relating to the canoe livery and establishing my teaching career gave me a whole new appreciation for my mom.  I will never understand how she taught kindergarten for 15 years.  Two half-days substitute teaching in kindergarten were more than enough for me.

As time went on, I slowly realized that the canoe livery would not have been nearly as successful without Mom and Grandma Reid.  Dad may have had the vision and made it happen, but it would not have been possible without great customer service provided by us all.  I may have grown up wanting to follow in Dad and Grandpa Buttrick’s footsteps, but I followed in my mom’s instead.  I just faced a different set of circumstances.

Not The End, The Beginning – Part 2

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Not The End, The Beginning – Part 1

When I went back to school in January 2014, just over 10 years ago, I admit, the idea of being an older student intimidated me, especially online courses.  When I graduated from Michigan State University (MSU) in 2004, online courses were not nearly as developed as they are now.  Due to a combination of landing a full-time position in Houston, Texas within a week of graduation, moving across the country, my stubbornness, and adjusting to working in corporate America full-time, my first experience with online classes did not go well.  That early negative experience stayed with me.  Fortunately, I adapted.

During the academic year, I planned to attend class and work on coursework two to three days a week while substitute teaching as much as possible.  To add insult to injury, I didn’t just take classes at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU).  No, I decided to enroll at Delta College too.

There were two reasons why I enrolled at Delta.  First, realistically, I could save money when compared to SVSU.  Second, I decided to complete a writing certificate while working towards my teaching certificate.  In the end, I had a wonderful experience at Delta College.  My history and writing classes, all taken at Delta, are among my most treasured.

My decision to complete the general writing program at Delta College stemmed from my involvement with Mid-Michigan Writers.  I attended their Gateway to Writing workshop in the fall of 2013.  That day, I happened to hear a group of Jeff Vande Zande’s students talking about how much they enjoyed his class and the wonderful writing program at Delta.  Vande Zande, who happened to be the keynote speaker that day, taught a screenwriting class at the time.  A few years later, his screenwriting class changed the way I look at movies forever.

At SVSU, I had to decide which secondary endorsements I planned to pursue.  In addition to Spanish, I had to choose between social studies and English.  Social studies won.  In 2019, I started a new position as a middle school teacher at St. Michael School and began taking classes to earn my English endorsement.  As with so many things in my life, I didn’t want to have to decide between two great options, so I didn’t.  I did both.  In spite of a pandemic, scheduling conflicts, and other considerations, I finally completed my English endorsement in May 2023.

In the end, I resigned my position in order to finally complete my English endorsement.  As incredible as it seems, SVSU, even in the aftermath of a global pandemic, offered no online or evening options for the two classes I still needed.  It wasn’t the only reason I left St. Mike’s, but I knew if I didn’t, I’d never be able to finish.  It ended up being for the best.

Sadly, that summer, approximately a month after I resigned, the assistant principal at St. Mike’s – and so, so much more – passed away.  It is safe to say that my life would be very different without Norma Vallad.  I certainly would not have landed at St. Mike’s without her involvement.  So much of our school culture revolved around her down to every last detail.  I still can’t imagine St. Mike’s without her.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to face that prospect in the fall.

By the time I finished my English endorsement last May, I felt such a deep sense of closure.  After all these years, no more educational pursuits to chase – unless, of course, someone would like to pay for a masters degree or PhD.  As far as I am concerned, I have nothing left to prove.

Teaching left me conflicted.  On one hand, I had come way too far to give up on teaching.  Yet, my first full year of teaching coincided with the Covid 19 pandemic.  I saw first hand how the pandemic affected teachers, students, parents, administrators, and everyone else.  The apathy I saw and experienced still haunts me.  As I reconsidered my role and future in education, little did I know that the best was yet to come.

Stay tuned for Part 3 …

Every New Beginning …

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Well, how can I fully explain last week?  Last Thursday, I took my last final exam ever – unless, of course, someone wants to pay for a graduate degree program or PhD.  Frankly, it is amazing.  I attended Michigan State from 1999-2004 – and then Delta College and Saginaw Valley State University to obtain my teaching certificate (2014-2016).  When I started my teaching career, I almost immediately decided that I wanted to add an English endorsement to my social studies and Spanish secondary endorsements.  Back to school I went from 2019, class by class and in the middle of a pandemic, until last week.  I am done.  Now that my grade is finalized, I will finally be able to add the English endorsement (secondary) to my teaching certificate.  In fact, I already applied to have it added.

So, what’s next?  Well, after this summer, I am not entirely sure.  We will see where things take me come fall.  I have several ideas.  For now, I am in the midst of getting the canoe livery ready for the summer.  Starting May 15th, I will be working there full-time once again.  I’ve actually been taking reservations at home all winter.  People are eager to get out on the river!  As I say so many times, we have the best customers.  I love thinking about how many memories have been made at our campgrounds and on the RIfle River over the decades.

RIght now, I couldn’t be in a better place.  I wrapped up so many loose ends over the last academic year and did exactly what I set out to do.  I have so many great options in front of me.  I finally feel ready to move on.  Stay tuned!

Of Hunting and Fishing, Reading and Writing

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Teddy Roosevelt is easily one of my favorite Presidents.

Sometimes I question whether or not Dad realizes what an example he set for his children – or at least me, as I can’t speak for my brother or sister.  He, along with my mom, spent the last nearly 46 years owning and operating Russell Canoe Livery and Campgrounds, Inc. and are still actively involved in the business.  They purchased the canoe livery from my paternal grandmother, Judy Reid, in June 1977, a few months prior to their wedding.  Growing up in and with the business, I saw firsthand what my parents and grandparents did to grow the business, including the sacrifices they made.

As a child, whenever anyone asked what my dad did for a living, my response of “he owns a campground and canoe livery” fascinated many.  As the canoe livery developed, Dad focused on creating a business that not only worked around our family life – it complimented my mom’s teaching career and our school schedules well.  It also allowed him to pursue his hobbies of hunting and fishing in a way impossible for most people.

I admit it:  I know more about hunting and fishing than any non-hunter, non-fisherwoman I know.  All thanks to Dad.  I grew up feeding Beagle hunting dogs used for rabbit hunting; with various mounts in our basement; and learning what a Pope and Young record meant, once my dad killed a Canadian black bear with a bow and arrow.  That bear now infamously resides in our main office/store in Omer, a legend in his own right.

This guy gets a lot of attention during the summer months, holding down the fort in our office.
Russell Canoe Livery, Omer, Michigan

As a young child, when I asked Dad why he hunted deer, he took the time to give me the full, true explanation.  At six years old, he explained how deer hunting helps control the deer population in Michigan.  If they weren’t hunted, there would be many more car/deer accidents, and they could become over-populated, causing starvation and disease.  I have never forgotten that lesson.  Even though I am no hunter myself, I have no issue with it – as long as rules are followed and as much of the animal is used as possible.

What I admire most about my dad is how he was able to create a life for himself in which he prioritized what he wanted out of life – and it wasn’t money – it was about lifestyle.  Even though he didn’t directly use his degree in wildlife biology in his career – he didn’t become a conservation officer – that knowledge allowed him to more fully understand what was needed to become a better hunter and fisherman.  Dad’s passion for his hobbies, even today in his 70s, still inspires me.

Dad and Me – Camp Russell 1981, with his first bear.

What I’ve long realized is that I am just as passionate about reading and writing.  He may not see it or recognize the correlation, but I do.  It is the reason why I earned my writing certificate from Delta College, took additional humanities courses when possible, joined Mid Michigan Writers, attended several writing workshops, and so much more.  Everyone should be so lucky.  I am never bored.  I am eternally grateful that my dad was able to find a way to make it all work and set an example for me to follow.  Per usual, I’m just doing things the “hard” way.  I will get there … eventually.

Blake Shelton – Austin (2001)

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Blake Shelton – Austin (2001) (Video) (Lyrics)

(Written February 22, 2023)

Have you ever fallen so in love with a place that you still dream about it years later – and you fall so in love with your memories of that particular time and place that you instinctively know that reality will never come close to what you remember?  It can happen.  In 2002, I fell in love with Austin, Texas.  In reality, I fell in love with a time and place that no longer exists.

It started out innocently enough.  When I began planning my year abroad – one semester in Quito, Ecuador and another in Caceres, Spain – I knew that I would also need to make plans for the summer after Spain.  I lucked out.  The spring of my sophomore year at Michigan State, I landed a position as a paid intern at IBM in Rochester, Minnesota.  I must have been on a roll that semester because I also landed a paid co-op opportunity (6 month contract) with Applied Materials (AMAT) in Austin, Texas.  Ultimately, I accepted the position with IBM and asked Applied Materials if I could pursue the co-op opportunity the following summer/fall.  They said yes, and I left East Lansing for a series of adventures that would take me away from campus for over a year and a half.  I was well on my way to pursuing several of my dreams at once, including a career in tech.

My time in Austin did not start off well.  When I arrived in June 2002, I didn’t know anyone.  I ended up subletting my first apartment from a UT student.  It was OK, but my only roommate in our four bedroom apartment spent all of her time with her boyfriend.  Often the only trace of Carly was the reeking skunk smell of pot.  Soon, things would change.

The first week or two at Applied consisted of orientation classes and touring facilities in what’ve been loving termed bunny suits.  What I loved about AMAT was their place in the tech industry.  We didn’t make the chips; we made the machines that make the chips.  After a long day of orientation, an engineer I’d just met, Melissa, asked if I wanted to go get a drink and have dinner after work.  Little did I know just how much she would impact my time in Austin.

Melissa and I became fast friends over dinner.  Once I began describing my experiences studying abroad in Ecuador and Spain, she began telling me about her former coworker at Motorola, Andy, a fellow engineer.  She thought that we should met, and frankly, I think she was trying to set us up.  There was only one catch:  Andy was currently exploring Machu Picchu in Peru and wouldn’t be home for some time.  It would be worth the wait.

In the meantime, on July 24th, 2002, on my way to work, a huge moving truck made a left-hand turn in front of me when I had the green light.  He hadn’t seen me.  In the accident, I broke my big toe and the metatarsal.  The molding on the driver’s side door of my car also sliced me behind my ear.  If I had had a passenger, he or she probably would not have survived.  In the aftermath of the accident, things somehow came together.  My mom flew out to Austin to help me find a lawyer and a new car.  She couldn’t believe how well I knew the city even though I had only been there just over a month.  I had to help navigate in the days before Google Maps due to my cast.

By the time I had a walking cast, all bets were off.  I quickly found out that the six month sublease I’d been promised was really only for three.  Livid, I needed a new place to live within a few weeks.  In the end, I found a much better place to live just in time thanks to Applied Material’s internal listings.  The months living with Karen and her toddler son were great.  It was almost as if I had the good fortune to live with a fun aunt for several months.  Things were finally looking up.

In all the chaos of the accident and moving, I finally met Andy.  We ended up on a blind date at the type of place that could only exist in Austin – Flipnotics.  The first floor was a quirky retail t-shirt shop.  The second floor included a restaurant/bar with a small performance space for live music.  We were there for the music.  I wish I had a video of Andy’s face when I opened my car door.  He was horrified to realize that I had a walking cast up to my knee and that he had invited me to a venue requiring climbing a large set of stairs.  Fortunately, we hit it off right away.

One of the best things about Austin, then and now, is the live music.  It isn’t called the live music capital of the world for nothing.  Andy was the perfect companion with whom to check it all out.  It turns out that as a hobby Andy had a radio show – ATX Live – on the local co-op radio station KOOP.  Soon I would met his friend and manager Cheryl.  Andy would later serve as president of KOOP for several years.  It isn’t every day that a man you admire and respect introduces you to someone who soon becomes one of your best friends.  That is precisely what happened.

Over the next few months, Andy, Cheryl, and I had numerous adventures.  I admit, I had a huge crush on Andy by this time.  Cheryl did her best to try to get us to end up together, but it wasn’t meant to be.  However, the fun I had that late summer and fall are never to be forgotten.  The three of us attended the first Austin City Limits Festival in Zilker Park.  Cheryl “conveniently” couldn’t join us the second day.  The antics that took place that weekend are stories in themselves that belong with other songs.  At the end of the festival, Andy and I ended up at a favorite local restaurant called Shady Grove.  As it was within walking distance of the festival, we had to order takeout and eat/drink on the lawn, it was that crowded.

Andy and I on the lawn of Shady Grove. – August 2002
First Annual Austin City Limits Festival

Later, Andy had LASIK surgery, and unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned.  He ended up blinded for a week.  As it was near his birthday, Cheryl and I threw him a party at his house once he regained his sight.  I finally got to meet a bunch of his friends, coworkers, etc.  It ended with Andy having to smooth things over with local cops late in the evening.  Our “dress to be seen”/birthday party was a complete success.

As Halloween approached, Andy asked if I wanted to go to a house party hosted by local musician Chelle Murrey.  Once we arrived, I dressed as a gypsy and Andy dressed as Zorro, Andy told me that he had a surprise for me.  It turned out that a Beatles’ tribute band were going to play at the party, and knowing that I was a Beatles’ fan, he wanted me to have the opportunity to check them out first.  I will never forget it.  I bought Chelle’s CD that evening, and even though the music hasn’t quite held up, it will always remind me of Austin.

Shortly after one more party – this time a birthday/going home/Christmas party for me in mid-December at Karen’s house – I had to pack up my new-to-me 2002 silver Grand Prix and make the long journey home – alone.  I arrived back in Michigan right before my birthday and Christmas.  A year and half and a thousand adventures later, I would be returning to Michigan State in January 2003 to finish my degrees.  I would graduate in May 2004.  I never wanted to leave Austin behind.

Chelle Murrey’s album Uncomplicated

On December 15th, 2002, a cold, foggy day in Austin, I left, listening to Chelle Murrey, trying to keep it all together.  Austin represented everything I wanted after graduation – a good job, great friends, beautiful place to live, and for the first time in my life, a social life that actually felt like me.

My senior year at MSU, I did everything in my power to land in Austin.  I made it to second round interviews with both Dell and Applied Materials.  Unfortunately, my manager at AMAT left a few weeks before I did.  He didn’t even get a chance to do my review before he left, that was left to someone I had only known for a week.  In essence, I had no one on the inside fighting for me.  Only half of the engineers and supply chain grads were hired.  Sadly, I wasn’t one of them.

I did put my time back in Austin to good use, however.  I met up with Andy and finally told him how I felt.  In essence, he told me that he viewed me as a little sister.  He explained that he was at a completely different stage in life.  At 22, devastated doesn’t begin to describe how I felt.  Looking back, I completely understand where he was coming from at that point.  At 29 and about to finish his MBA, he already owned his own home and was established in his career.  I still needed to finish undergrad.

It is funny how I should have seen it coming.  He bought me a cowgirl hat at the Austin City Limits Festival because he was afraid I was going to fry otherwise.  As cold weather set in, he warned me about trying to drive on ice in Texas.  In essence, I may know how to drive on ice being from Michigan, but others in Texas do not.  My dad would have been impressed.

Today, Andy is married and still lives in Austin, now owning his own business.  I’d love to track down Cheryl.  I have a feeling that if we were able to catch up after all these years, it would be as if no time had passed at all.  The only person with whom I am in contact is Karen, who keeps reminding me from time to time that Austin has changed – and not for the better.

In essence, this is a love letter to the Austin I knew in 2002.  Some of my favorite landmarks and haunts, namely Flipnotics and Shady Grove, no longer exist.  I still follow AMAT and the semiconductor industry.  How could I not after 2020?  The Austin City Limits Festival has grown beyond all recognition.  I can only imagine how the city has changed and evolved.  I just hope that it is still as weird as I remember and remains a welcoming place for young undergrads trying to find their place in the adult world.  Those memories of Austin will always be a part of me.

There Are No Words

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Statue

If I have learned anything over the last few weeks, it is that I crave structure.  I need it to be productive.  I am slowly working on getting back into some type of routine as everything has shifted over the last couple of weeks.  Right now, I’m not even sure what it would look like.

I’d love to put tons of time and energy into my Google Classroom now, but Michigan just closed schools for the rest of the school year.  Up until this point, I was unable to assign anything for a grade.  I could share things I would like my students to look at and do, but that was about it.  I did come across some great stuff that I will be using with my students moving forward.  Unfortunately, that is the point.  Until we can figure out what distance learning will look like at our school, I’m not sure how we will handle students without out devices and internet access.  Hopefully, we will know more next week and will be able to move on from there.

I miss and worry about my students.  My heart breaks for my 8th graders who will be heading off to high school next year.  Will they be ready?  We did not get to send them off in the way they need to be sent off – not yet, anyway.  I worry less about 6th and 7th graders.  I can put things in place to help us fill in gaps next year.  It may not be fun, but it might be necessary.  I still miss them though, and they are certainly missing out on so much.  When we left school on Friday, March 13th – a day I will never forget – I was in the middle of planning a field trip to the Michigan Science Center and the Detroit Institute of Arts.  My 6th graders were also supposed to go to Lansing on another field trip in early May – a field trip that never happened last year.  8th graders are also missing out on their last dance, usually put on by 7th grade.  Not to mention track and field day, the last events surrounding Lent and Easter, and the wonderful chaos that is the last week of the school year.  Oh, and I could cry when I think of what we had planned for March is reading month, most of which never took place, including Prime Time Live Friday Night (originally slated for that ill-fated Friday the 13th) and a poetry café, among so much else.

Then there are the student council events.  I am the student council advisor, and my students pleaded with me to plan an end of year event.  A trip to an escape room and laser tag were in the works.  We were also supposed to have a carnival for younger students during March is reading month, all sponsored and put on by student council.  I’m now trying to figure out how we are going to do elections for next year, which take place every spring.  I may be able to come up with something there.  The point is that everyone who works in or deals with education day-in, day-out – teachers, administrators, volunteers, staff, parents, and certainly students – lost so much over these last few weeks.

I feel as though that goes double for students in Catholic schools.  I am not Catholic, and I do not teach religion, but I know what my students are missing at a time when they could use their faith the most.  They need guidance when it comes to faith formation, and that is what they are lacking now.  I keep thinking … 20 years from now, how I will I explain these times to my students?  There are times when I feel at a loss when I try discussing September 11th with current students who were born longer after 2001.

This is not what I wanted or dreamed for my first full year teaching.  It just isn’t.  I do hope that next year will bring a “normal” year.  During the 2018-2019 school year, those of us in Michigan experienced a record number of “cold”/snow days.  Something no one experienced before.  Now this.  I think everyone could use a return to “normal” at this point.

Change the World

Then there is the canoe livery.  Fortunately for us, we don’t truly begin to get busy until the end of June, early July.  August keeps getting busier and busier every year.  This time of year, we get things ready for opening on Memorial Weekend.  We will see what happens.  While we can make some progress, in other ways, it is difficult.  For example, I can’t finish ordering our t-shirts and sweatshirts at this point.  Would it be wise to do so right now with so much uncertainty?  Same goes for other merchandise in our stores.

There are so many summer scenarios that are running through my head.  I can’t help but think we’d be especially busy if things start returning to normal by early June.  If it is towards the end of June, that might put more pressure on already extremely busy weekends.  Should we extend our season?  Time will tell.

I do know that I will survive.  My family will survive.  The canoe livery will survive.  We’ve weathered so many storms in the past.  I keep telling myself how bleak things looked in 2018 in the wake of massive 100-year flooding due to ice.  We made it and came back better than ever.  Eventually a path will be made clear, and there will be a new “normal.”  We all just need to hold on until then.

Empty Classroom