The "Mitten War:" as much as its true, it just has to stop

Let's admit it: us Michiganders are possessive.

Our music. Our lakes. Our sports teams. Our cities. And, especially today, our shape.

The brouhaha is as follows: an image shows up on a Wisconsin tourism site of the state of Wisconsin shaped using a mitten. Kalamazoo Gazette picks up on the story, and mad Michigan chaos ensues. 

Many Michiganders are upset seeing an item that many associate with us being associated with those cheeseheads over across the lake (sorry, had to).

It's sparked dozens of posts on news sites. Tweets and Facebook posts abound. Even the Pure Michigan campaign has jumped in, hosting a poll that asks which is the Mitten State. You can probably figure out how that's going right now.

It's been interesting to watch how this has developed throughout the day. And the more it goes on, the more I realize this little debate is worthless and should end.

The only real argument is that Wisconsinites use their hand to identify where they come from, much like us Michiganders. I doubt this, unless they all have deformed hands in Wisconsin. I tried getting my hand to bend the way the mitten is bent, but couldn't do it too naturally. But that's all we can bicker about. 

The site isn't trying to lay claim to this concept: it's simply using a mitten as a winter piece for its website. Apparently, it had leaves shaped like Wisconsin during the fall. The mitten isn't a dominant force on the site, its an element as a part of a rotating carousel of different items. It's an element, not a complete attack.

Even the state's Department of Tourism is admitting it's not a tactic to take the title of Mitten State away from us (Even though the next line says Wisconsin's trying to be the "fun state," whatever that means). But we've launched into full-attack mode ourselves. Fun-poking is one thing, but there's going to be some that will fight this in the morning. Michigan.org even has whoistherealmittenstate.com launched with said poll above. It's slightly overboard, to say the least. 

I compiled several tweets this morning on this subject for work, and compiled them below. Take a look:

Northern Lights make an appearance in Michigan

The State of Michigan got a special treat normally reserved for our neighbors to the north.

The Northern Lights appeared all across the state, from the base of the Lower Peninsula to Lake Superior. The explanation was that a large system of high pressure over the Mississippi Valley displayed the colors across the Midwest and parts of the South. The Northern Lights, or the aurora borealis, are created by solar particles colliding with atoms near the North Pole.

I went out to my window to try and find the lights, but couldn't see them in my apartment in northern Lenawee County. Apparently they could be seen south of me in Adrian, so I may have not been able to see them because of the flood light on my apartment.

Hearing all of this talk of the lights reminded me of the first and only time I've seen them. It was 2002, and I was in Canada on a week-long canoe trip. It was roughly 12:30 at night, and we were cooking steaks over the fire. We saw these strange beams of light running down the sky, and they didn't stay still. It wasn't like some images, but it was enough to notice sitting by the campfire. If you were lucky enough to see the lights last night, savor the chance, because you never know when the Northern Lights will be back.

I've taken some of the photos taken last night, as well as reactions from across the state, and gathered them together below. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Fire engulfs hundreds of acres of forest near Grayling

A fire broke out in the forest just outside Grayling in Crawford County at about 2:30 p.m. today, according to 9 and 10 News.

Officials are saying the fire is reaching toward state campgrounds in the area, and more than 100 homes are being evacuated in and around Grayling, north of M-72. Coincidentally, I was just up on M-72 a few weeks ago, coming home from backpacking Sand Lakes Quiet Area.

The fires spanned approximately 1,000 acres in the dry heat, which set records downstate near Detroit. It has consumed one home so far, according to the AP, which had its story published in places such as mysanantonio.com in Texas and the Albany Times Union in New York. Resurrection Life Church east of Grayling is serving as an emergency center for the people that have been displaced.

Below, I've created a Storify post to document some of the social media posts on the fire. (P.S. It's my first time using the service, please let me know how I can improve!)