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Donate TodayGuest 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 Magazine 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
- 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 Monica Williams at mwilliams@bridgemi.com. Please briefly describe who you are and what you would like to say.
Articles
Opinion | U-M: Learn from COVID-19; reduce greenhouse gas emissions now
Guest Commentary: The University of Michigan lags other Big Ten schools in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including its Spartan and Buckeye rivals, as well as other prominent peer institutions.
Opinion | Midland breach is wake-up call to remove Michigan's obsolete dams
Across the country, experts understand that removing dams we no longer need is the best way to keep people safe, improve water quality, restore critical wildlife habitat and eliminate ongoing costs of dam maintenance and repair.
Opinion | A letter of encouragement to the Class of 2020, from a 2019 grad
COVID-19 has presented the Class of 2020 with a unique skill — adaptation, something this older student envies.
Opinion | How Michigan universities are collaborating to continue K-12 learning
Educators and researchers at the Michigan State University College of Education, the University of Michigan School of Education and the Wayne State University College of Education are redoubling our efforts to assist school districts, parents and children deal with the challenges posed during a global coronavirus pandemic.
Opinion | We want to work with Gov. Whitmer. She chose partisanship instead.
House Speaker Lee Chatfield writes that Michigan is ‘worse off’ because Gov. Gretchen Whitmer chose a legal battle rather than uniting with lawmakers to fight the coronavirus. History shows there’s a better way, he writes.
Opinion | Michigan needs money: Whitmer should renegotiate business subsidy deals
As the state does its part, one better way to reduce government spending would be to turn to Ford, General Motors and Fiat-Chrysler, recipients of public taxpayer dollars.
Opinion | Suicide shows burned out coronavirus physicians need healing, too.
We always put patients first. But it’s time the system starts caring about us as well.
Opinion | Our state budget is a casualty of COVID-19. These principles could help.
Two budget directors for Michigan governors Granholm and Snyder, no strangers to difficult financial decisions, lay out a framework for those addressing pending state budget issues.
Opinion | Youth organizations serve vital, often overlooked, role during crisis
There are plenty of youth-serving organizations around our state that assist youth inside the curve. Find one that is doing good work on behalf of disconnected children and give them a little stimulus to continue their missions well after the curve is flattened.
Opinion | Reopening Michigan: Policies ignore how vulnerable Americans really are
It is not just a few people with esoteric diseases that society needs to be concerned about. It is most of us, from our employees to our neighbors to our families to the guy on the next treadmill at the gym when it reopens and, for a majority of Michiganders, ourselves.
Opinion | Liberate Michigan? Here's where we can start.
"I, too, support many forms of liberation, albeit of a different stripe than most protesters in Lansing have in mind."
Opinion | Controlling the spread of COVID-19 requires radical racial solidarity
The authors, professors at the University of Michigan, outline short- and long-term solutions that address historic systems of injustice.
Opinion | A healthy economy needs a healthy workforce. Here's our plan.
"We have heard from thousands of workers across the state, many of whom are afraid to go to work and who do not feel their workplaces are ready for safe operation. We have heard from workers not being given masks. We know that no-touch thermometers for screening are scarce," these state senators write.
Opinion | Michigan food, agriculture sectors are essential. Let’s keep them safe.
The industries' real-world significance became evident, for the first time in anyone’s memory, we all went to our local grocery store last month and encountered empty shelves.
Opinion | Lessons from India help us fight coronavirus in Detroit, Seattle
Physicians and sisters Teena and Anita Chopra draw inspiration from a grandfather they never saw, whose tireless efforts in 1945 helped save vulnerable residents in Punjab, India during a cholera epidemic.
Opinion | Coronavirus is opportunity for case study on business survival
Our future business leaders will emerge more flexible and adept if they examine what it’s like to ride through a crisis.
Opinion | Guns and screaming at Michigan Capitol drown out message of protest
Protesters had good reason to descend upon the Michigan Capitol last week to protest Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders. Their voices went unheard, however, because some protesters waved guns and screamed at police.
Opinion | What's behind the racial disparity in COVID-19 cases
The conditions in which you grew up, live, learn, work, and play—are key drivers of health disparities and are much more important and influential than individual behaviors or genetics. Put simply, race is not a risk factor—racism is.
Opinion | How the pandemic will hit local government pension systems
Local governments were already carrying pension debt before recent market declines. Now they will struggle to pay for losses their plans have incurred during the coronavirus pandemic.
Opinion | Why instructing online is an inadequate way of teaching
The rigor is still there, the assignments are still there, the reaching out and motivation are still there, but the human component is lacking in some of the crucial moments as a teacher.