Once people believe political opponents are fundamentally threatening or less deserving of participation, extreme actions become easier to justify. The encouraging news is that language can also work in the opposite direction. It can create space for disagreement without dehumanization.
Guest Commentary
At Bridge, we believe in listening to voices from all over our state. Got something to say? Contact us and join the conversation (details below)
How to submit a Guest Commentary
What to know:
Bridge welcomes a diversity of voices and perspectives from readers on issues important to Michigan. Guest commentaries reflect the views of the author(s), and are independent of the nonpartisan, fact-driven reporting of Bridge’s newsroom staff.
Commentaries must be the author’s original work and preferably will not have appeared first in other publications. Bridge reserves the right to decline submissions at our discretion.
We reserve the right to edit commentary for grammar, clarity, brevity or to address legal or factual concerns. We may offer editing suggestions, but in the service of making your work more accessible, not to alter your views.
We do not pay for guest commentary.
Here are some guidelines:
- Columns are usually 500-700 words
- They generally focus on a Michigan topic or policy and should avoid ad hominem attacks
- The more direct, distinct and/or intimate your perspective, the more effective your column will be
- The best columns do more than identify problems; they also offer solutions and facts to back them up
- Please include a one- or two-sentence bio, including the writer’s organization or relevant background.
- Authors must show their work, by backing up facts with links to reports or studies
- Bridge does not publish self-promotional columns or candidate endorsements
- Send a good quality, large headshot of the writer(s) as an attachment
- We also ask that, in return for publishing a guest commentary, the author(s) and their organizations generously promote the link to the published column through your Facebook, Twitter and other social or professional networks.
That’s about it. Keep the writing clear, conversational and free of jargon, and sell our smart and receptive readership on the argument you are trying to make.
Who to contact:
Email your submission or idea to guestcommentary@bridgemi.com. Please briefly describe who you are and what you would like to say and put the words “guest commentary” in the email subject line.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | Time to ban utilities’ political spending, lower costs for Michiganders
Utility political spending doesn’t just stop good policies from becoming law. It’s also an offensive weapon that’s used to push detrimental policies, broadly opposed by a majority of Michiganders and legislators in both parties, over the finish line.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | Mental health is health: Make annual screenings standard for Michigan K–12
Michigan should establish annual behavioral health assessments for every K-12 student, just as we require annual physical health evaluations.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | Stewardship over spotlight: Rethinking leadership in a time of turnover
Universities, and many businesses, are not built in a single administration. They are shaped across a continuum of leadership, each generation inheriting both the strengths and unfinished work of those who came before, while responding to a rapidly changing world.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | Michigan mothers jailed for surviving abuse deserve to have cases reviewed
When those women are incarcerated, families fracture, children lose stability and communities absorb the long-term consequences.There is a better approach: allowing courts to review sentences in cases where abuse, coercion or trafficking were never fully considered.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | We can prevent an oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac
The pattern is brutally clear: when anchors and pipelines meet, the pipeline loses — and the water pays the price. The public health, economic and ecological consequences of a Line 5 failure would be profound.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | I watched kratom steal my sister. Michigan has to stop this now
A bill in the Michigan House would ban the growth and sale of kratom and its synthetic derivatives in Michigan. It is a straightforward response to a documented public health crisis, and it needs to pass.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | A tale of two commencements
Should a U-M professor face professional retribution for lauding pro-Palestinian student activists? No. But with all the words and phrases available to you, why choose ones you knew would be divisive and hurtful to a portion of your own flock?
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | Michigan can’t control war-driven oil prices. We can control our transportation future
For households and businesses craving predictability in their monthly budgets, EVs are an obvious choice. But we need policies that will allow us to take advantage of those benefits.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | If Michigan wants a government that works, it must get money out of politics
Whether you’re focused on clean water, affordable energy or economic security, the same pattern keeps showing up: Too often, the biggest checks carry the most weight.