Archive - 2009

Over the Christmas break I had an epiphany. Christmas is good for epiphanies, if not for the spirit that is in the air, then for the fact that life pauses for a moment to let me catch a breath, enjoy some nog, and eat way too much food.

For a good portion of my adult life I'd been living in the past or clinging to some distant future goal. Publishing my novel is chief on the list of distant, or not so distant, future goals. I realized that I'd been so absorbed in the things that I regretted or things that made me angry in the past, and that I'd been so absorbed in the things that I wanted to accomplish that I was forgetting about the here and now. I was forgetting that being outside just to feel the cold on my cheeks is a good thing, or that sitting with my kids and enjoying a game of Rock Band with no thought of yesterday or tomorrow is a more valuable gift than any kind of jewelry money can buy. 

The odd thing is that it wasn't cancer or any profound event that led to a clearing of vision. I say clearing because there's still a lot to be dusted away, but I feel like this is the beginning of a better way. It's just been a gradual shift, with missteps along the way for sure, but it's a shift that feels brighter in so many ways. 

I suppose the closest thing I have to a New Year's resolution is that I hope to continue my practice in this better way. I won't say it's easy. It's become habit for my mind to gravitate to lists of what should be done and worrying about whether everything will ever be done.

So, my wish for readers in the New Year, then, is for all to have many happy moments.

Most people will be glad to see 2009 come to a close. It was a tough year for almost all sectors of our community due to an ailing economy that brought an increase in home foreclosures, joblessness and cuts to local school and city budgets. While economists predict a turnaround in unemployment for 2010, city and school budgets will continue to suffer as property tax revenues and state revenue sharing funds are expected to drop further.

The year, however, has not left without rays of optimism. Locally, Consolidated Biscuit Company (CBC) has purchased the Tecumseh Products Company plant with a promise of 500 new jobs within five years; Wacker Silicone has announced a $23.7 million investment at its Sutton Road facility; and 573 jobs are anticipated 20 minutes down the road in Dundee where Chrysler-Fiat will begin manufacturing engines at a new $179 million plant.

Additionally, Lenawee Stamping Corporation averted a strike by its workers and moved forward with a $6 million investment for a new manufacturing line with expectations of 30 new jobs.

CanAm Bottling, Inc., was another company announcing plans to invest $15 million in Tecumseh. The announcement was met with opposition from conservation groups which believe selling city water for bottling was an exploitation of natural resources.

In the coming year, the city will also continue efforts to attract tenants to the Tecumseh Business and Industrial Park with the installation of infrastructure.

Underwood-Orr #34 auxiliary will meet Jan. 4, 2010, at the Tecumseh American Legion Post Home at 7 p.m.

Tecumseh Youth Theatre is announcing auditions for the high school drama “Laugh In.”  The show dates are Feb. 26, 27 and 28.  

Auditions will be held Jan. 7 and Jan. 8, at Tecumseh Center for the Arts from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  High school students who live in the Tecumseh School District or attend Tecumseh High School may audition.  

For more information, call Rhonda Nowak at (527) 270-0962.