Deep Thoughts and Work Comps, photo by CAVE CANEM

The Center for Michigan is an organization I work with that I very much admire. They are dedicated to helping to transform Michigan’s business, economic, political and cultural climate. One of their efforts to help us get our arms around what we have and to visualize what we could become is their Envision Michigan Competition.

You can see the weekly winners on their web site like Michigan is richer than we think, It’s all about the water and Walking the trails, in which Norma Wolf writes:

My home is in a wooded subdivision in Haslett, a suburb really, of East Lansing. A daily trek down my tree lined street will take me into the woods on a trail that twists and turns through five miles of beauty. I pass through deciduous trees and pine forest. I travel literally through the wetlands and up and over flowing streams. In the Spring I watch as the skunk cabbage makes its appearance and later I delight in the snake dozing in the sun along my path. In the fall the wind through the leaves of maple and oak remind me of the true beauty of this state of Hiawatha.

Entering your photo, essay or video is easy and you can win a part of $30,000 in prizes including weekly Meijer shopping sprees, college scholarships and Michigan vacations. Check it out.

I picked this photo because the photographer is one of too many talented folks who left our state for economic reasons. It seems clear to me that Michigan can’t afford to continue to allow our best to leave and our brightest bulbs to never shine to their full brightness.

In my opinion, that means that we as a state need to commit our efforts, intellects and hard-earned dollars to rebuilding our state as a place that operates with its eyes wide open to the realities of the modern world. I think that the last decade demonstrates that it’s not enough to talk about our commitment to our children, our future and our state and draft plan after underfunded plan. Sooner or later, you actually have to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

I don’t know what your opinion or vision is, but I do know where you could share it…