#my channel name is also derived from this flower

[tigerlyla-of-metinna]

Mine is Tiger Orchids

What's everyone's favourite flowers that aren't like. The normal ones. Like everyone's a fan of roses and sunflowers what's a more niche one. One you don't get in gift sets. Mine's sweet peas

[princesssarisa]

Do you also know the different names meanings of Beauty and the Beast?

Beauty's names, in versions that don't just call her "Beauty":

Belle (the Jean Cocteau film, the Disney version, and several other adaptations): "Beautiful."

Zémire (the opera Zémire et Azor): "My praise" or "my music."

Nastenka (the 1952 Russian animated film The Scarlet Flower): A nickname for Anastasia, meaning "resurrection."

Althea (the 1962 film): "Healer."

Honour (Robin McKinley's novel Beauty): "Honor," obviously, with British spelling.

Alyona (the 1977 Russian film The Scarlet Flower): A form of Helen, meaning "torch" or "light."

Julie (the 1978 Czech film Panna a Netvor): "Youthful."

Catherine (the 1987 TV series): "Far off" or "pure."

Maria (the anime Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics): "Bitter," "drop of the sea," or "beloved."

Annabelle (Cameron Dokey's novel Belle): "Lovable" or "grace and beauty."

Linda (the 2007 novel and 2011 film Beastly): "Beautiful."

Elsa (the 2012 Märchenperlen adaptation): Derived from Elizabeth, meaning "My God is an oath."

The Beast's names, in versions that reveal it:

Azor (the opera Zémire et Azor): "Helper."

Eduardo (the 1962 film): "Wealthy guard."

Vincent (the 1987 TV series): "Conqueror."

Adam (if we assume this is the Disney Beast's real name): "Man."

Koro (Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child): "Choir."

Gaspard (Cameron Dokey's novel Belle): "Treasurer."

Kyle (Beastly): "Channel" or "strait."

Arbo (the 2012 Märchenperlen adaptation): "Brave army."

Argus (Megan Kearney's webcomic): "Shining."

[libidomechanica]

“My Jeffrey have”

A limerick sequence

               1

It is a little deep in the palms. Then always like man. My Jeffrey have.    But these path to that’s in    hand dwell, the To my brewing, till rest make his fell.

               2

But she can court. Whether spective: your body of honey endur’d, I will    remained. He carcanet.    But I’m in the best bows beside anither luckle. Along.

               3

A nursed to all view his sphere. You can hours! Down to save of truth, then he should    stab their misery! Once    mountains flowers and bright of a bird out the water, to thee.

               4

Thou guest, by Name Absál— her mother. Where young proofed overcast. Like bad sent:    it is, bitter. To tinder    doest solid aim The goes; that not: O, if I euer fits.

               5

We find clear; but tree, arm’d. Really fruits, a loving, who did she’d said, Dear Cloe,    that I do those even    too has the beseech is mermaids young and home, since to her e’re.

               6

Had the king moon. When your greatest what if shepheard, thered lady leaving    mourn to holds that you cannot    knew she could go, in such as my soul reflect salámán.

               7

And the time and gibber all me well for survey, for by sings are thou hadst    bid me the their guarded,    sae shy; for a year; and somehow pretty? The crime your first loue!

               8

Doctor to riddle. The should disappoint did I simple pilfering all    through that wretched with sea    all the wood? It see’t? On his selfishness, as if any things.

               9

Planet children, had the foes. ’Tis a baser cottage beneath one summoned    on Devon, with married    the sky. Midas, the air, rend gentle spot, to metaphysics!

               10

Whose by little across that mine is a slight! In bed of suns, and do the    mother jewels in her race    opens; only them night estates was we came to the ground off.

               11

And thus? Thy love is so: when wide, well he place unto part that the duck pond    and noble hall, down tongue    in the house. In vain mince, and keeper, every clash’d in the ice.

               12

For in the married like bad content as a grape. Plumes history of us,    are when the princes; o    sceptred half a fondness, a mountains and beauty fades of knots.

               13

What off her seede, though the old! Upon that please, and the statues. Return and    told you damnational    turn it even is ouercast! ’Re we leave thought where, with name. Kind!

               14

And are they are, your sports in the judges of our ingenio, caeteran    was hid away,—to turn,    and opening me into me? To made up of Salámán.

               15

Armes will kill’d to hurts, can jump both look I do the from Evil—and lead, turn’d    been seen the four, with. He    speared the view, then yu see, and I am dead without he.

               16

For name. The lips derive honey enought! At lengths of mischief’s daily breath    and hole some telligence    breast eche consequent visible common up his pastern skies?

               17

And Interpret thing in that frown mine. Now will not in the read or else swirl    and to rule pearls upon    this estate; but long withouten and a Hoard of not ashamed.

               18

Back, till the middle of the sky, but channels to my excuse which he will    she cottage pursued then    the thilke lassie evening rain the diff’rence brere, my lips warm. Grave.

               19

Holy, even light, tho deep in, when years’ space forced the orphan of Beauty    her own scorched make for still    them till. While I stop loving moons’ times the motes besides alas!

               20

She was soon and ache forgetfulness. —Thus set took thro’ thee. On a deadly    view the words, and the air,    exposures are hung from him out. Now transfers in ground about?

               21

A strange to plunge and near; ’ and soon but with times to whom shee live wistful betwixt    the strictest your alters    by a bowls, and brings in that I ledde, all the soothest Sleep!

               22

As when this very weary of death, Julia. So am I that I of    doubtless thence,—come his heards    around, bade him as it took away dyd wiped also know me.

               23

I pass you to part of light part frae chart so soon eclipsed and love I take    away, full however    smile, but a point the night as thou my low estate may be mind.

               24

And seen you have right; and the love, I haue wrong There beneath and not once at    his Head, we were not see?    But successively: but these grave. So much; I lovely Davies.

               25

Then morning in disguise, wilt thou are his honour, but all in love in exile    were draw the old jockstrap.    And heart in their purple glens, I tell it smooth Anthea!

               26

Bitter a Maying, the morn now I meaning? She coarse shuffling clay, do not    him not; the hidden grande    passage shilling feet thy poor beauty’s limbs, it dear desire.

               27

These laste, motion, than a twofold this, the lies lit will you read most pure passion—    or at pleasaunce to    touch of your alters of danced light. A thou dost, or twice, and sing!

               28

And fain handed with my wander woman. And I went to her? On the wine;    yea, thou pleasure ones of    beasts a new life a child at a tedious gan overty?

               29

Of the married my Loue doth how thy years shine upon thou wert wont from some    love, and Favonious. Harlot,    couleur devil his weaving marries bitter barley bare.

               30

Hast them, as any daintier iudgement of the knights, a good will, or    inditers who, where schoolmaster    off her weight of her race. My bough—begg’d to the sodger’s eye!

               31

The wand’ring what the crystal Devon, with heauen of the sumptuous Shout a    slight in evening-star, and    Love’s share, your daddie. All gives to my thoughtful, secret hear ye light.

               32

For introduced what wait forth turning grey. He doctor to make that maid    invitation. Adieu ye    Woodes they took sae shy; for a year to my upbraide, he drank.

               33

If seeing all decaying to casuist, nor eloquenched in has done.    And high in babble! All    well the darkness might her, grew the uneven thus country claim.

               34

An accursèd from Italian boatman show autumn sky, and Lydia    agreed but young, it eats    water grape. Lock to defence a spot what wrought her; and full smart.

               35

But what thine as babe is old Sunday even Plutarch’s Lives a bowl of lover    thy tastes to love; I    turns a sight; yet, that glistenings, that’s sente me. When I meaning.

               36

The vnwary sight, and thus danced by the pure ease; a fair thorn young, not silken    nets and laugh, and put once    is new Song? Some nae mind is pricking mourn for one the night here.

               37

Like a league beyond and cast the more. —A cool and wine and slende, as if a    night the most Pearls, and good    cross that, Syr Philip, which in her life I was pacifier.

               38

A day full lips of Europe’s journed anger, an echoes in their nights    of my times the sky. As    sweet body and landlords that, ’ she know no more in the river.

               39

Breath, O clamorous raiment of players, its goblet, gold our in and made    me those. And in midst priest,    ended from me a sad slave is Folly dumb; I warrior man.

               40

And, so little to hold; on the cry? Breeze of sunshine and be the one. Than    South that I might red canter    for a woman would your kindly kiss’d my liege, ’ said this me!

               41

To be swore; and its lull’d thee mossession— or at their outside and beauteous    bill of the long minute    modest weaves, and after dying. Along, I fear nae mine one.

               42

Or aughter, too old, nauseous thick synthetic roots life the brain. And Mitford    in the plain prey. As passion    o’er there and bade me to give him up with tall growin’ yet.

               43

Would her: I never substant message shirtless merely foe, that last would    underbolt not have left it,    tis heart waste. In the thought morning mouth weep thy widowed my knees.

               44

For a scrape, burying complishments or grow. ’Re we are score. Makes me sits    willing sin. Love, my delight    to these world. To bind the water, this winterview, by forks.

               45

To enterwove? I told him fu’ dry. But he’s his eyes are lying is thing    stars, forgive her tearing;    I have a banks, crystal rivers misery! Go and will cry?

               46

To they fall is life; for he winds seen. I wish I disdaine into the    watery like a Children,    hath been, and leaves a stringe, o Vashti! If I have succeeded.

               47

He never wish it alone the unaccomplexion left it is bounty    of each trip; high desire,    is waist. I have me for pay that burden of Paradise.

[jeongvision]

nct’s jaehyun’s perfume collection review!!

for part two, please refer to here!

hello, all! so some of you may have already known that in the past month, i have impulsively purchased various of perfumes, some of which are based on jaehyun’s personal perfume collection that he uses as mentioned on various platforms. some of the scents he uses are:

tom ford white suede

tom ford fucking fabulous

le labo neroli 36

jo malone myrrh & tonka

jo malone wood sage & sea salt

byredo bal d’afrique

as someone who loves collecting perfumes myself, this was a perfect excuse for me to buy some to get an idea on how he would ‘smell’ like!

some of you have asked for me to post a review of his perfumes! i will be primarily listing my reactions, experiences, and ratings for each scent, along with pictures of jaehyun associated with each scent and if the scent is masculine, feminine, or neutral. i have purchased all of them except for tom ford fucking fabulous. the byredo bal d’afrique will be reviewed at a later date after it arrives in the mail, so for now only 4/6 scents will be discussed.

disclaimer: this is NOT an advertisement but simply a fun and personal review of his perfume collection! but i wouldn’t be opposed with possible brand deals with any of them

before you buy!! some of the fragrances will react differently on your skin as the scents are based on your body chemistry with certain chemicals listed on their ingredients. thus, you may smell a different scent when sprayed on your body than on mine. not only that, some of the perfumes utilizes synthetic ingredients, which can be a deterrent for those with a sensitive nose. i strongly recommend sampling them out at local stores before purchasing as these brands are expensive.

without further ado, happy reading! please do tell me your personal experiences if you have also tried some of them (or perfumes from other members!) <3

warnings: heavy cursing, some vulgar language lmao (they will be listed as [**] if you would like to skip those parts, especially for minors)

TOM FORD WHITE SUEDE

“The addictive pull of leather and suede is channeled through an elegant musk-derived composition. Musk’s primal intensity is harmonized with saffron and thyme, heightened with velvety rose and warm amber. Warm, supple and sensual, a perfume with an irresistible expression of raw desire.” —Tom Ford

first and foremost, i just want to say holy fucking SHIT HE SMELLS SO FUCKING GOOD WTF ASKJFKLSJ

[**] HE SMELLS SO FUCKING SEXYAJJF IT’S HARD HOURS FOR HIM EVERY TIME I SMELL IT

like?? oh my god?????

i literally CRIED in my car after smelling it bc oh my gOD HE SMELLS LIKE THAT??!?!??

HE SMELLS LIKE A FUCKING BOYFRIEND OH MY GODJSJFJKS

i can never look at him the same way ever again holy crap

“raw desire” sOMEBODY PLEASE SAVE ME I CAN’T—

[**] like honestly it makes me want to eat his neck and choke on his dick whAt

anyways

it has a leathery and musky scent to it with a mix of powdery!!

slightly sharp when you first spray it but once it settles and marinates on your skin and clothing, it’s PERFECT

listen i’m still shooked that he smells like THAT

my friend told me one day to spray it on a big sweater and wear it to mimic wearing one of ‘his’ sweaters and—

:(

i wanted to kith him

and hug him

and cuddle with him

and never let him go aaAAAHHH

[**] oh daddy

masculine or feminine? androgynous

recommend? YES ARE YOU KIDDING ME

rating? “i’m going to name my future kid eleven because he is going to be better than you.” —liu yangyang to ten

LE LABO NEROLI 36

“Neroli is another name for the essence of Orange Blossom. The unique quality of our Neroli is its sunny floral character with an extraordinarily warm, sensual base. Rose, musk, mandarin orange (slightly aldehydic), jasmine and vanilla, among other essences, complete the portrait, bringing Neroli 36 spikiness, ease, zest and heat... Well-being, elegance and charm all in a bottle!” —Le Labo

okay so i purchased this (and many other scents) as a sample (1.5 ml) bc this shit is hella expensive

like bro the price of it as 15 ml costs more than jo malone’s 30 ml

maybe it’s bc they said lab techs compound it on-demand??

not sure

but anyways

this gives me straight flower boy vibes

like i’m in a flower shop and there’s a cute florist behind the counter trimming and tending plants with such careful hands

but the white floral kinds

OHOHOHOHO

WE LOVE IT

if you like those kinds of scents, then this is definitely the scent for you!

seriously it smells like lilies and all the white florals alike

personally i like the sweet floral scents so this one is okay to me

still smells really good!

reminds me of glade’s fresh linen carpet powder so it unlocked a repressed memory of my childhood LMFOAODA

what a gentleman he smells like uwuuu

honestly if i was getting married to someone and he showed up to my wedding as a guest wearing this perfume i’d leave my fiancé on the spot

this man has quality tastes wtf

masculine or feminine? gender neutral (ish)? more feminine if i have to say

recommend? if you like white floral scents then you would go BONKERS over this!

rating? 7/10 only bc i prefer sweet floral over white floral scents but if i didn’t then i’d rate it 10/10

JO MALONE MYRRH & TONKA

“Rich, hand-harvested sap of the Namibian myrrh tree, mingling with the warm almond and lush vanilla notes of the tonka bean. Noble and intoxicating.” —Jo Malone

oh bitch

BITCH

THIS MOTHERFUCKER SMELLS SO FUCKING GOOD OH MY FUCKING GODDDDDDD

“noble and intoxicating” DAMN FUCKING RIGHT IT IS

[**] I WILL GET ON MY KNEES FOR THIS MAN IF I EVER SMELL THIS ON HIM

my royal liege, jung jaehyun, i am at your SERVICE HELLO SIR WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU TODAY

he could step on my face and i’d thank him for allowing me to breathe the same air as him oh my god—

ahem

moving along now

it has a vanilla and amber scent to it! a very nice and sweet scent to it that’s not too overbearing

usually i’m not a big fan of vanilla or cake fragrances bc they tend to nauseate me

but this one?

ohohoho

this is the good stuff

i didn’t exactly purchase this one; i bought other fragrances from jo malone and they gave me free samples to choose from, and myrrh & tonka was one of them sO MIGHT AS WELL TRY IT OUT

so glad i did omg i don’t regret it

i might just buy a bottle of it

[**] another one bites the dust just RAIL ME ALREADY JUNG JAEHYUN I’M BEGGING YOU—

[**] daddy pls

masculine or feminine? androgynous, but leaning slightly towards feminine

recommend? YES OH MY GOD

rating? CHITTAPHON OUT OF TEN

JO MALONE WOOD SAGE & SEA SALT

“Escape the everyday along the windswept shore. Waves breaking white, the air fresh with sea salt and spray. The mineral scent of rugged cliffs, mingling with earthy sage.” —Jo Malone

yo this shit smells good

like REALLY good

he smells like beaches and lemons hELLO THERE

no wonder this is one of their best sellers wtf this man has IMMACULATE TASTE EYE—

AND THERE’S ONLY ONE (1) OF HIM IN THIS ENTIRE WORLD???!?

HUH!?!!?

life truly isn’t fair, huh

okay god i see you with favorites

now

let’s see here

very citrusy!!

also has that marine type of scent to it making it exceptionally aromatic!

not too much of a boujee scent like m&t where you would use on special events

this is more like a scent you would use on a daily basis going out

but upgraded

like you would smell fresh and expensive

kind of like a lowkey rich kid type of scent but you’re humble about it but lowkey kinda flexing yk?

this smell is BEAUT i love it omg i cant stop sniffing it

i’m a sucker for citrus scents :(

i’d wear this shit to school everyday if i could and have all my friends smell me

damn i bet his sweaters smell hella nice with this perfume :(

masculine or feminine? gender neutral

recommend? yes, yes, and yes.

rating? 10/10

tl;dr— jaehyun has expensive tastes and smells so fucking sexy how is he even real what the fUCk

[wynsnerdyrambles]

What do you think is the focal point of each breath? Like how thunder breathing seems to focus on speed, what are the focuses of the other known breaths? Love breathing seems to rely on the user's flexibility and insect breathing seems to rely on agility.

Oooohhhh the Breathing Techniques. I'm a sucker for sword stuff, and one of my favorite details in any story that makes prominent use of swords is the various forms of swordplay that exist in said world. So, of course the Breathing techniques in KNY were one of my favorite elements. So, we're gonna talk about them all.

Sun Breathing:

Sun Breathing, as the original form of the breathing techniques seemed a very logical place to start in our analysis of the focus points of each technique. Honestly though, Sun Breathing might be the easiest to identify. All other forms of breathing were derived from Sun Breathing, and as each of them focuses on more singular attributes, it would make sense that Sun Breathing is in general, a more holistic approach to swordplay. It relies on Yoriichi's Zen like state to function at its best, and is shown to feature a variety of techniques within its wheelhouse. It is the whole body, mind, and spirit, perfectly aligning into the sword strikes of someone in a Zen state.

Moon Breathing:

Moon Breathing is the only one of the original derivatives of Sun Breathing to not pass down into the repertoire of the Demon Slayer Corps in the form that we see it in, as it was only practiced by Michikatsu, who defected to the other side, becoming the demon Kokushibou. This one is a tricky one to pinpoint what's going on, as in the only form we see it in, the form has been tampered with so much by Kokushibou's Blood Demon Art so greatly, it shows very little resemblance to its former self. So, instead of analyzing the direct techniques to determine a focus, we'll instead take the thematic approach. Michikatsu was one of the first Demon Slayers to begin using Total Concentration Breathing after Yoriichi introduced it to them, and given the name of the style referencing the moon, which more dimly reflects the light of the sun, we can perhaps infer something along these lines: Moon Breathing requires much of the precise swordplay that Sun Breathing does, yet is lacking in the Zen that a true wielder of Sun Breathing must possess. It is a dimmer reflection of Sun Breathing's capabilities. In fact, given that there was some decay of the true forms of Sun Breathing as it was learned by the Kamado family, I would say that Michikatsu's original Moon Breathing might resemble the Hinokami Kagura.

Water Breathing:

Water Breathing seems to focus on the basics of swordplay, with a distinct emphasis on curved strikes and slashes. We know that Water Breathing is one of the more widely practiced styles in the Demon Slayer Corps as of the main story, with many different cultivators, as it is noted to be easy to learn. However, despite the relative ease of learning this style, I believe it is likely one of the more difficult styles to master, and I believe that the only true masters of the style that we observe in the story are Urokodaki and Tomioka, though I believe both Sabito and Makomo could have mastered the style had they lived.

Thunder Breathing:

Thunder Breathing emphasizes finishing off your opponent with a single strike, and because of this, places a heavy focus on both the art of drawing the sword, (Iaijutsu) and placing a lot of focus on the legs. (not me just barely realizing that Jigoro lost his leg, and therefore could no longer practice the forms effectively, hence his retirement). There is a lot of layering to the techniques of Thunder Breathing, as we know that mastery of the first form is key to mastery of all further forms. We also can see through Zenitsu that the first form is easily modifiable, accounting for both the sixfold, eightfold, and Godspeed variations, which I believe he developed himself, before using that base ground to develop the seventh form.

Stone Breathing:

Stone Breathing seems tailor made for intense physical strength and unconventional weapon choices. None of the five known forms of Stone Breathing seem like they would work at all for a traditional swordsman, and unlike many of the other forms, seem like they would require the user to be pretty physically powerful to pull off. So the focus here seems to be on pure physical power, alongside unique weapons.

Wind Breathing:

Wind Breathing is incredibly reminiscent of a real life sword style, namely Jigen Ryu. This style holds a high focus on high stances, as well as delivering an intense first strike, with teachings of the practice dictating that a second strike is not even to be considered. As far as things specific to Wind Breathing, the intensity and frequency of attacks should be noted. There seems to be a certain rough aggression to the style, and while that may merely be Sanemi's own personal take on the style, given we have no other sources, I would say that rough aggression is one of the focuses of the style, alongside its common ground with Jigen Ryu.

Flame Breathing:

Flame Breathing seems to focus on the energetic, passionate motion of a flame. However, that energy is channeled in a very precise manner, almost akin to the singular flicker of a candle's flame. Kyojuro's movements are energetic, but also incredibly precise. The movements are tight and controlled, but also have that passion and momentum of a fire burning. We see that the style must be incredibly precise by the way Kyojuro is able to use his sword just perfectly to deflect some of Akaza's punches, without damaging the blade at all. Flame breathing also features incredible variety in the types of strikes it employs, from the more straightforward slash of Unknowing Fire, to the almost defensive circular movement employed in Blooming Flame Undulation. Just like how a fire can be completely unpredictable, Flame Breathing seems to have a technique for every combat situation, rendering the user unpredictable in their own right.

Now we move on to the breathing styles that aren't directly derived from Sun Breathing.

Flower Breathing:

Flower Breathing was derived from Water Breathing at some point in the past long enough ago that a Sakura tree planted by the first wielder of the style is quite large in the main story. Flower Breathing places a heavy emphasis on observational skills, knowing your opponent, obvserving them and their environment to maximize chances of defeating them. Because of this focus on the gathering of information, Flower Breathing's techniques seem to be dual-purpose, serving as both methods of attack, and of evasion. The eyes are an important body focus for users of this style, as masters of the style tend to have very naturally good eyesight, as well as the final form, Equinoctial Vermillion Eye, raising the user's vision to such a high level that the world around them seems to move in slow motion.

Insect Breathing:

Insect Breathing is directly derived from Flower Breathing, and was the personal creation of Shinobu Kocho, the Insect Hashira. This style is quite unique among the Breathing Forms, as it is the only 3rd tier derivation from Sun Breathing that we know of, as well as focusing on an entirely different style of fighting than any other style. Given Shinobu's inability to cut off a demon's head, she has a uniquely designed sword, tailor made for piercing movements, rather than the traditional slashing movements. Speed is huge here, as well as taking the evasion elements of Flower Breathing and cranking it up to 11. After all, Shinobu's unique sword likely deals with additional fragility concerns, given it's function is essentially as a giant sword-shaped syringe. So, if Shinobu can inject her foe as quickly as possible, without risking a prolonged fight risking her sword's durability, that would be an ideal focus point for her unique fighting style.

Serpent Breathing:

Yet another derivative of Water Breathing, this style also seems to be the personal creation of one of the Hashira, namely Iguro Obanai. Serpent Breathing takes the 'flow' elements of Water Breathing and makes them the emphasis of the style. Obanai's sword is unique in that it's unique, but even Gotouge (who loves telling us the reasons why trivial details are the way they are) hasn't given us a reason why Obanai wields this unique blade. The blade is most similar in structure to an Indonesian Kris Blade, although with a much larger size. While there is no confirmed correlation, it seems to me that this style of sword would be at the very least, the optimal blade for Serpent Breathing. Serpent Breathing also likely incorporates Kaburamaru's role as a seeing-eye snake, likely avoiding making strikes too close to the body so as to avoid any accidental beheadings, as well as forms with very instinctual cues. In fact, of the derivatives, Serpent Breathing seems to be the closest related to its inspiration, likely only optimizing Water Breathing's styles to work best for Obanai.

Sound Breathing:

Somehow, this style is related to Thunder Breathing, although the styles seem completely different. This style makes heavy use of Uzui's njinja background, taking elements of that fighting style, and integrating them with the more conventional needs of the Corps' general fighting style. Mimicking the disorienting nature of sound and noise, Uzui makes use of small grenades, as well as his unique nunchuck swords, which notably have much larger blades than most standard Nichirin swords. This style is explosive and bombastic, and relies heavily on Tengen's unique ability to read the flow of a battle like a sheet of music. This style is pure chaos incarnate, and focuses on bringing the best out of Tengen's ninja training, as well as explosions.

Beast Breathing:

A personal style invented by Inosuke Hashibira, Beast Breathing is a distant relative of Wind Breathing. Making use of Inosuke's two jagged katana, excellent flexibility, and animal instinct, this breathing style is all rough edges and agression just barely channeled. Inosuke's excellent, animal-like sense of environmental awareness allows him to go full ham on aggression without needing to put much thought into an ambush, while also rendering him able to directly pinpoint a target in a large, chaotic crowd. None of these forms seem possible with only one sword, so it is necessary for any pupil of Inosuke-sama's to become a dual wielder like himself.

Mist Breathing:

Mist Breathing is a derivative of Wind Breathing, but seems more polished, making use of well refined swordplay, and streamlining the rough edges so key to Wind Breathing's identity. This is all for a good reason of course, for like the mist it evokes, this style is all about obscuring your movements and intent with your blade. In order to pull off feints, and other deceptive ploys with a blade, intense skill must be required to shift into the intended form with giving very few cues. Mist Breathing appears to be quite difficult to master, as the only known user of the style, Muichiro Tokito, is a literal genius with the sword. Mastery of Deceptive techniques as well as a refined grasp of swordplay is the focus of this style.

Love Breathing:

The personal creation of Mitsuri Kanroji, Love Breathing is derived from Flame Breathing, which she learned during her study with Kyojuro Rengoku. This style is incredibly personal, and it would take a miracle for someone to recreate it, given the perfect storm of Mitsuri's skillset. It takes the basics of energetic momentum focused on in Flame Breathing and multiplies it with Mitsuri's own flexibility, strength, and unique sword. It can be inferred through the flexibility of her sword that energetic momentum combined with intense flexibility is the key to this style.

And that about wraps up the breathing forms. Much like many real life fighting styles, these forms are very complex, and difficult to pin down to a single focus element. By giving a more holistic analysis of each style, I hope I was able to give you a sense of the essences of these fighting styles.

[navyhyuck]

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𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐄𝐃, 𝐉𝐀𝐘.

↳ a love letter a week, and it has you wondering who’s your secret admirer. you have nine weeks, eight candidates, and one story to live. will you find out who your ‘jay’ is?

a/n :: hi guys it’s finally here!! this is an introduction sorta prologue type chapter here, and i, uh, apologize for the length but anyway, please enjoy and stay tuned for more! :) update :: repost because tumblr hates me

wc :: 1.6k

taglist: @childofthecycle @takoyakkun @the8luvr @staywrites

let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

“That’s the new kid? Shit—he’s kind of hot.”

You’re caught off guard by Ryujin’s confession, the usual slam of her locker faltering as you lean back on your heels, giving her a raised eyebrow. She’s not looking your way, however, her usually bored eyes watching an unfamiliar face stroll down the hallway; your best friend’s gaze isn’t the only one he’s getting. It wasn’t, especially eyeing him from the button-down shirt he has lazily tucked into his jeans to the clack on his dark shoes on the tiles—he had your mouth practically dropping open at the sight.

You’re absolutely sure, you realize as he walks out of sight—the only thing marking his past presence being the cling to his neck jewelry, that you’ve never seen someone walk through those halls with a fashion sense as exceptional as his. Though you’re shaken out of your trance by the girl next to you, a low chuckle leaves her as you blink back into the present.

“What’d I say?” She tests, wiggling her eyebrows in a way that makes you roll your eyes, turning towards your locker to open it. “He’s hot, right? Like not a jock sort of hot but more like a, oh! Like one of those anime guys that loves the girl but sort of wants to kill her, that kinda hot. You know?”

“...Right.”

“And he’s got a nice face too, don’t you think?” Ryujin adds slyly, a smirk spreading across her lips as you wince at her choice of words. “Plus he’s on the swim team apparently, at least from what I heard this morning. It’s kinda hard to believe it too, that you know, someone with better fashion sense than Han Jisung’s entered the school. And well, anyone other than Jisung is the one for me.” She ends off dramatically, leaning against the lockers with her eyes staring up at the ceiling as if they had the answers to the next calculus test on it.

The boy’s swim team, well, you could possibly call them the pride and joy of the school; from the way every bleacher is filled with a packed audience, they make a more entertaining group than the football team (which we don’t talk about, not ever since Lee Taeyong’s senior rebellion against the sophomore class for sabotaging the homecoming game). It would be a lie if you were to say you’d never gone to one of their many meets and watched them take every lap as if it was nothing on their shoulders—if anything, you give them the credit they deserve. Though it’s common for everyone to have a favorite from the team as well—from the current top (and most popular) seven—you never personally decided on one. If you had to pick, you’d be conflicted till your last day on the earth.

First, is Lee Minho, the captain of the swim team. It’s easy to tell why he’s a school favorite, considering the athletic drive he’s had since his days in elementary school and the contributions he’s made since his freshman year, but most importantly because of his spirit. The previous year, he single handedly took the team to the county championships with his skills in freestyle and backstroke—though he won first prize for freestyle—and earned the highest title yet. Because of that, the annual argument on the team captain had even been unofficially cancelled this year because of the coach’s final (and best) choice; no one had dared to say Minho didn’t deserve the role.

Next, is Bang Chan, the team’s best diver. You don’t know too much about swimming, the only facts being the ones you derived from watching countless meets beside your friends, but you’re certain you’ve never seen a diver better than him. The only other thing about him is that he has the hearts of everyone melting at any given time, the dimpled smiles he gives with every loss or win being the one that somehow channels energy each time. He’s also seen as the most optimistic, mainly for his cheesy cheers before meets actually start, and as the one with the most charisma.

After that, is Seo Changbin. If there’s one thing about him that the entire population comments on, it’s that resting bitch face he holds throughout the school day and practically anytime he’s not swimming. It seems like it changes completely when his skin touches the water, maybe it’s as magical as a mermaid, but it’s also how he manages to speed through 500 yards without a few pants of exhaust at the end. He’s always one to keep going, until past the breaking point.

Next, is Han Jisung, the team’s designated popular member. He’s Ryujin’s favorite (and it’s ridiculously obvious, regardless of how hard she attempts to hide it) as well as many others, clearly being yet another contributing factor to his popularity. But he’s not just popular for the sake of it, he’s also quite famous for his sleek backstroke. Being a dream it is to some to see Jisung swimming competitively in the evening on Friday, you’ve even seen some take advantage of the situation by taking snapshots. You don’t like to think what he might think of strangers taking pictures of him in a bathing suit, however.

After him, is Kim Seungmin. Maybe you could call him another school favorite, but he isn’t nearly as ‘famous’ as his counterpart, though you might be one to advocate for his backstroke over Jisung’s. He’s also known for his impeccable grades, rocketing higher than most of the students in the school and even placing him in the top 5% of the school. Not only is he a stellar athlete, but he’s got the A’s as well. (You can expect him to be a teacher’s favorite, too.)

Next, is Lee Felix, the team’s best individual medley swimmer. Out of everyone on the team, he’s known as the one and only to exhibit some of the best technique (he was even complimented on the local news, and your heart had almost stopped just seeing the pretty boy on your TV). He’s also on the dance team, the captain too, though he’s more well known for his skills in the water. You can guess that there are a handful that come to watch him dance as well.

Lastly, is Yang Jeongin. A junior, actually, but with a skill set much farther than of his age. He’s a bit cute as well, with a shy sort of persona that usually had people awing for him through his sophomore year, and it still hasn’t gotten out of your mind even after a year. He is, after all, a fantastic 200 yard racer, being able to snatch a medal at almost every meet.

Adding another swimmer to the team is common, but something tells you that the case of this boy walking through the halls of your school might make him a bit more than just another person joining the team. The aura he gave off, startling everyone in his way with nothing more than a simple walk down the hallway—it’s nothing, but it seems like much more than that. Perhaps, you’d even get to learn his name one day.

You snap out of your daydream with a smack from Ryujin, the girl nagging at you to hurry up; your hand grazes past the lock on your locker, filling in the combination before tugging violently at the metal until it gives away. Instinctively, you reach your hand in blindly for your books, but there’s a fluttering feeling on your arm as you glance back, confused. A neat envelope had fallen from above, probably having been stuffed into the top not too long ago, and a questioning hum leaves you.

“What’s this?” You say to yourself, mumbling underneath your breath as you turn it over in your hand, your finger tracing over the colorful washi tape placed on the borders. It’s decorated with stickers, all the way until your name is written in a bright blue. The last letter of your name branches off into a flower, one that leads all the way to the back, where there’s a stick over the flap that reads ‘open here’ in small font.

Might as well read it now.

dear y/n love,

i hope you’ve received this safely, and if you haven’t, i genuinely apologize! i’d say it’s not my wrongdoing, which of course it is, but you also have no clue who i am! hopefully. unless you saw me put this in your locker, but i really hope you didn’t. i’d be quite embarrassed if you did, so please just maybe, don’t tell anyone if you did? yeah, thank you in advance.

anyway, hi! i’ll call myself jay for the time being. hmm, just so i can stay anonymous! i wouldn’t want to reveal myself to you just yet. or hopefully, not at all, but i think i’ll eventually open up to the idea of confessing. oh, yeah, sorry i didn’t mention. i’m jay and i’m in love with you.

okay, that sounds pretty aggressive and a little arrogant but i promise i’m not!!! i just don’t have any extra letter paper to write on or else i wouldn’t even be writing the rest of this. okay, okay, i’m sorry. back to the main point. so, i guess you can call me your secret admirer or whatever, but anyway, i like you. like more than a friend, like you, but i’m too scared to tell you so therefore, here we are. expect to hear from me in the near future ;)

signed, jay

[notthatitmattersbutyes]

I have had this thought on my heart all day. I can’t shake it so I’m putting it here and you can tell me if I’m wrong.

As far as cultural appropriation, in the black community at the moment is what I’m speaking of because it’s most prevalent.

Black culture is like a flower. The black community is the garden. Now, white people come along and see the flower and they say they love and appreciate the flower. So they pick the flower and take it. They may change it a bit, call it a different name, press the flower, but in the end, it was all derived from the flower which never belonged to them. It was the garden’s.

If they REALLY loved and appreciated it, they should have helped nurture it. They could water it (supporting black businesses and artists), help it grow (spread the word about the artists or piece of history/culture and why it’s important to the black community). They can also protect the flower from others who want to pick it (explain the difference between appropriation and appreciation to those who look to profit/steal it). That is how you appreciate a flower.

Because it doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the garden. And you can look but you can’t take it.

Now, I’m not black. I am, genetically, Irish and German. But I understand that some things don’t belong to me. I can like and appreciate them, BUT THEY ARE NOT FOR ME. And want to know why? Because most things ARE for me. So the reason why we need the BET network is because EVERY channel is the White Entertainment Network. And yes we need black history month or classes in school because white history took over and lied.

So if I have any black followers who would like to comment, let me know if I got that thought right. If I’m wrong, I’ll take it down. It’s just been bugging me all day.

[thesweetblossoms]

Conversations at Night

🎹Last week, a newly immigrated Jordanian Uber driver, Omar, drove me to work, he mentioned that he studied Arabic literature and was curious about by name. When I told him, it was indeed an Arabic word, chosen by my father, he readily shared his research and knowledge, to tell me more about its meaning. He relayed to me that the name derives from one of the oldest tribes in the Arabian desert, that the root word means hardworking as well intelligent. Although I had known that my name meant, intelligence, since I was a little girl, after learning the actual root word, “Sammar”, I researched further, discovering it also means “conversations at night”. This is such a haunting meaning, since I often think and write at night, and it pleasing to think that my name might indeed be a self fulfilling prophecy.

If I were to list seven elements that contribute to a women’s appeal, that carry the impression of compelling, interesting and unforgettable femininity, that strengthen a ladies ability to exert a magnetic pull, sex appeal, as well as attraction, my list would include grace, intelligence, wit, confidence, imagination, style and vision. For each dispenses the charms, extracts the best elements and leaves faint traces of the women’s soul into the atmosphere she inhabits and colors all her encounters.

A graceful women is one that may be counted on to examine the hand she has been given and find the only way to play would be to create, envision and design, a charming, memorable and beautiful life. She would notice that a hand painted thank you note and homemade lemon zested madeleines would be a happy gift to send to an elementary school teacher, or a message to an author, after reading a book may increase the power of both written and unwritten works, or that dealing with multiple obligations yet remaining unfazed is the key to carrying out each endeavor well. A graceful women is often a reliable friend, somebody who has kindness and strength to spare,

who is generous and open hearted in providing ideas, advice, new ways of thinking, perspectives and insights that open channels, clarifying problems, dilemmas or troubles. By confronting issues with a high level of ability, sharpness, composure and calm, she inspires faith in outcomes as well as a sense of security in others, for she reminds us, that the universe readily furnishes us with necessary tools and the awakened among us may cannily use these to create gardens, or start companies, write books, raise children or steadfastly and relentlessly chase any dream.

Intelligence is an irreplaceable tool in a women’s arsenal. While appearances satisfy many evolutionary prerogatives, people are often attracted to the components of a persons personality, character and energy. Thus ones ability to think, to make connections, to gain and use knowledge, to envision new and different worlds, to find patterns, to look minutely at details, to be able to grasp the universal horizons, to simplify the blinking space between birth and death, to detect humor or to ideate a world without pain and suffering, may be intoxicating to others, just as newly opened ivory roses, are to an orchid pink desert hummingbird.

The wittiness factor adds a sparkle to drifting breezes, ticking minutes and to the light filled hours of experience, for any encounter is more pleasurable when the conversation is amusing, interesting and articulate. The epitome for wit may be Jane Austen’s, Elizabeth Bennet, a heroine that is able to duel with the most bedeviling of men, who is able to enchant all around her with her kindness, intelligence and passion. For eons, I thought that being witty meant the ability to think fast and return a volley with ferocity and brilliance, yet it may actually embody a larger context, as being witty may be a certain kind of sensitivity, of knowing the correct words to appease a tense situation, perhaps with a gentle surrender, or a thoughtful offer, or it may be the priceless skill, at a dinner party or even, an attorneys break room setting, perchance, to extract the most vivacity from another person. A witty disposition unleashes the exuberant and sardonic ability to ascertain the humor inherent, even within the bitterest of dilemmas and unsavory intervals, it persuades the sleepiest of senses to savor the intrinsic qualities of reality, of the funny, cute and precious elements of quickly changing and developing children, or of noting the romantic opportunities of lounging in candlelight, when the power goes out, or in taking rain showered tree and blossom perfumed walks in less crowded sidewalks, or of knowing that what is truly relevant is how much you laughed, or lingered in beauty or dwelled in love.

Confidence is a narcotic quality, it opens ones experience to manifest the most fruitful results. It relies on an innate sense of place, an ability to see through many of the artificial blocks that prevent us from enjoying the present. I am awed at the way certain individuals carry themselves, the plus size models, or the plainly dressed and unassuming tech founders, or little children who have not been conditioned to compare themselves to media and cultural archetypes. Confidence arises from a comprehension of the value that one may add to the situation, knowing that the simplest gestures may tint the quietest hours, or even the most hectic ones, it is the calling card of the person, who introduces themselves and gains a new friend, or the individual that sweeps aside other peoples narrow viewpoint by example, or who seldom worries about how the audience regards them, as long as they adhere to high principals, values and modes of conduct.

Creating imaginary worlds, or parallel dimensions is a satisfying and alluring anecdote to navigating life in our present form. Therefore, a wild, creative, whimsical, exuberant, fantastical, energetic, ephemeral or any other type of imagination allows us to wonder into other realms that may exist in the vastness of eternity, like invisible moons, beguiling us unawares. An imagination could spark an ambrosial love affair, by sensing possibility in a potential partner, despite the blindingly obvious shortcomings, leading one on a romantic journey that could be thrilling despite the gaping variance from previous amorous notions. Or it could lead one to design and create an incandescent and disarmingly magnificent garden, laden with peach hydrangea, royal purple forget me nots, green tea dogwood blossoms, pink sapphire peonies and a hanging rope swing, knotted to a stately fairy light strung oak tree, to softly glide upon, while caressed by honeysuckle perfumed drifts, lashings of tenderness from ripening pink moons and lulling gold silk threaded clouds. It could create worlds that linger in our shared literary world, enthralling readers over generations with indelible characters and themes, such as J.M Barries, Peter Pan, or A Midsummers Nights Dream by William Shakespeare. An unfettered imagination could birth an enthusiastic and charming story about a mischievous giraffe in Paris, or a lonely starfish who longs to escape the coral reefs, or a striking, haunting and unforgettable love story set in the English countryside.

Words are more permanent than thoughts, as thoughts dissipate unerringly into the atmosphere, so just as writing encodes symbolic meaning, accelerates and defines the future as well as leaves greater tangible traces than musings alone, personal style is also an imprint of ones personality into reality. Sometimes the simplest ideas beguile me, the idea that a dress as ephhermal as a chiffon piece protects, shelters and conceals us from the part of reality that is separate from our selves, yet also exists as a work of art, or that how we dress impacts our energy, attitudes and moods, wearing floral patterns reminds us of the healing potential of nature, a black studded dress advertises that we must not be trifled with, or a nude halter silk dress evinces a desire for frivolity, sensuality and celebration. My thoughts often dwell upon an inking, an ominous sensation or a persistent thought cloud, that there is scare time as well as opportunity, to express myself to the farthest limits of possibility, to sit quietly to read and think about manifold subjects that render illumination, or even to savor the wondrous scenes occurring across time and space, as it entails a sacrifice of other pressing matters to notice, contemplate and mull the mysterious unfurling of the hours. I feel this way especially poignantly regarding style, that there isn’t enough time to wear the clothes that have come across my path, that I may not have adequate chances to choose different earrings to compliment my outfits or wear lovely shoes that would enhance a carefully chosen scarf. Just as the way an exquisite platinum ring sets of a twinkling emerald gem, this dearth of time influences me to both savor as well as thoughtfully consider the ritual of dressing in the morning for work, or selecting a caramel and gold beaded party dress to wear for a date night, or collecting another white cotton dress to linger in the garden.

Ones vision far exceeds the artifices and false boxes of sex, status or upbringing as vision is an element of our soul, it is a masterful and ecstatic gift, one that many lucky people possess, yet only to squander it in half sleepy lives, leaving a handful to scale the heights of awareness, or risk the temptations of insanity, topple precariously over the edges of reason as great visual artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet or Georgia O Keefe. For vision is a subtle ecstasy, enabling us to be charmed by overwhelmingly gorgeous vistas such as lilac clouded rainforests in Costa Rica, or Balinese, glimmering beach temples, a misty pine tree cove in Vancouver, a small town waterfall in Connecticut with groves of blossoming plum trees, a hilly glade ripe with nigella, cosmos, asters and lace flowers in Colorado, a moonshot Taj Mahal with night blooming jasmine and tuberose, a concealed hydrangea, rose and clematis ivy and moss draped reading bench in a garden in Cotswalds, or a white chiffon gown and black tie soirée at the Hall of Mirrors at the Versailles. Yet, the boundless gift of vision includes the ability to create imaginary worlds, perhaps, the talent to create a Parisian rooftop soirée with pink champagne, piano music, shadows of darkness and light, a setting for an overture, for the mischievous heiress in a backless black silk dress with emerald earrings, and the tall, captivating, yet, impecunious gentlemen in a patched up tweed jacket, both, serenaded by the musical notes and lilac dusk breezes floating over pooled pillar candles, strung Japanese lanterns, multiple riveting conversations and hinting at a momentous rendezvous, by star struck water fountains in the rose gardens below. But, vision unwavering burnishes the magic of the ordinary, common place or even mundane, like a spell or incantation, it charms us when we are at leisure, maybe, when we see the tiny spiders performing gymnastics over the blossoming tomatillo plants, or the shadowy outline of cosmos on the pavement, or a black thrasher bird feather, of the slowly whirling pink grasses in the inundating light.

During a spell of neglecting to refill my hummingbird feeders with handmade nectar, I diverted my spare time to planting seeds, fertilizing and watering my garden consistently. On Saturday afternoon, while lazying in the balcony garden with cups of Irish coffee, I noticed a hummingbird fly into the covered garden with pots of jasmine, tuberose, black eyed Susan’s, flowering basil, cosmos, roses, sweet alyssum and Mexican sunflowers, and sip greedily from the roses and cosmos before flying away. I was bewitched by the sight, realizing how much I miss seeing the fast beating whizzing petite birds visit my garden, yet enthralled that by growing flowers they may still frequent my space and imbibe in the nectar they find therein.

By looking again, more carefully, calmly, methodically at the possessions we already have concealed away in delicate pouches or miniscule ceramic bowls, or barely holding up in creased envelopes in oyster pink Prada purses, we might be delighted, intrigued and captivated by what we discover. I recently took out my Elsa Peretti teardrop necklace out and considered the fragile silver chain and the evocative shape of a single drop of water, borne of insidious joy or recalcitrant sorrow. I hadn’t worn it for many years as there were two tiny knots in the chain that I couldn’t untangle and was too busy to take to Tiffany's to repair. Yet, once I took it out again, with a degree of maturity or skill that is the gift of growing older, I was able to focus on the minuscule tangles and unknot them slowly with concentration and patience. With the years, we gain talents, perspectives and abilities that are not immediately apparent. So it is with pleasure that I wear my long ago acquired and conscientious stored necklace, hoping it charms the seductive flow and cadence of the present time, to symbolize our physical ability to transform energy when we cry and to take the tears and alchemize it to realms of imagination, wonder and beauty.

Often during breaks between work, I succumbs to islands of fancy and I scribble shards of fancy and nonsense; I seek alchemy in every leaf and discover magic in every blossom, I leave secrets in the open meadows and plant revelations under the shadows of cedar trees, I traipse into comedies in the coffee beaned darkness and escape tragedies in the mirrored light, I linger in the borders between moments, in the beats between the notes and the spaces between the lines.

One is able to measure the healing quotient of a house by the vibrancy and the lushness of its plant inhabitants. I am aware of this co-relation, whenever I enter a space with emerald, jade, arsenic green, oyster or polka dotted pink, or hues of deep Provençal lavender, that appear content, peaceful, well tended, happily imbibing light showers, fending off the dusty cadence of windows, rising tenuously, joyously or even arrogantly from black pearled soil, that itself, is verdant, sufficiently hydrated, evidently fertile, and with lilting stems that have been either left to its own devices, or that been thoughtfully sculpted with the gardeners hands with a pair of much used, oiled and sharpened bonsai scissors. There is a tangible loving energy that emanates from these spaces, where the subtlest creatures are cared for and honored. For our lives are akin to sheafs of fragilely stroked watercolor botanical paintings, tied loosely with a nude pink silk ribbon, each offering a daily experiment in alchemy, practiced, by cutting off a branch to allow another, greater access to light and air, or by gently pulling off dried leaves, so that another might sprout from the green stem below, or to take a flourishing limb from one plant to embed into another pot so that it may root and create an independent plant. These houseplants allow us to deepen our connection to nature, to entwine with it unwavering flow, recklessly, by attempting to manipulate and control living entities, by inviting other species and personalities into our midst, by examining the visible patterns, arcs, shapes, forms and manifestations of botanicals, to attempt to understand its quiet language and to bind ourselves to them, within our own scant hours, upon this pale dot, that is planted itself, by some unknown gardener, into eternal space.

Spend the day looking at the shadows and the night looking at the stars. For there is magic and mystery in the hidden spaces that the illumination conceals, while there are truths, beyond the blatant solar flares that the softly lit moon shyly gives away. I linger in the early November breezes while the crescent moons silver filters indolently through a congress of palm tree leaves, into my Paris cup of chamomile tea. I lull in the lantana, basil, chrysanthemum, rose, tuberose, orange leaf and jasmine perfume. I am soothed by the abstract and bewitching melodies of the wind chimes, the song of the flowing water in the fountain, of old memories lingering within the fabric, weavings and leaves; of the faded firoza, mustard and cream kantha blanket, ivory paint chipped rattan chair and the new marigold plants. These ameliorate the current time, by reminding me of my grandparents garden, as a little girl, even though, the textures, fragrances and lyrics are carefully, and irreversibly separated, by a handful of decades from my contemplations, here, bathed in the heady new moon and the gently biting desert winter winds. But perhaps, there is more to consider, for garden perfumes, night nectar chasing moths, fluttery eucalyptus branches and the tricks of the heavenly bodies, might allow frames to shift and flirt unbeknownst with each other.

Can you hear the wondering butterfly and the prancing bee, whispering gently through the lavender breezes, follow me, follow me? 🌊

[kevinscottgardens]

7 au 13 février 2022

Monday I had more physio and ultrasound. Finally I feel my arm may heal one day soon and amputation will not be necessary. ;-) I also had an appointment with my chiropractor. It was a good day taking care of my body. I started working on my US taxes. They are always more complicated after a move and opening bank accounts etc. I also attended a Quinta meeting and am looking forward to visiting the Quinta at the end of this week. My sister introduced me to Wordle, so I’m enjoying this challenge and particularly like that I can only do one a day and not get distracted by doing it all day long, like Words with Friends.

Tuesday I went up to show Ronie the watering regime. Things are very dry. I wont be at all surprised if a few plants don’t make it. Then I went looking for muslin so I can make some marmalade this year. None to be found, so ordered it online and will do that next week. I finished my taxes in the evening.

Wednesday and Thursday passed in a blur of reading, working on the puzzle, Duolingo and checking on entry requirements to Portugal that changed Monday from needing an additional negative Covid test, back in line with the rest of the EU, just requiring the pass sanitaire.

Friday I flew to Lisbon. I had to go via Paris and had a two-hour layover at CDG. Thankfully the lounge is nice.

I met Susie at the car rental agency. As we were leaving the car park, we hit something on the passenger side doors. It was dark, and whatever we hit was low down. Not the best start to a two-and-a-half hour journey, in the dark, to the mountains of Portugal. We had a bit of trouble finding the Quinta. I didn’t have any signal at all for the last kilometre around the house. Eventually we arrived, around 22.00 and Stephan whipped up a delicious meal for us, and wine, of course, to settle the nerves.

Saturday was a grey day. We were hoping for a good rain; however we only had a bit; it’s already very dry here. We went up to Marvão and enjoyed a fabulous lunch at... The food was truly delicious. It was a lovely way to spend a grey, cold and blustery day.

In the afternoon, we drove over to Castelo d’Avida for a bit of a walk, enjoyed a local beer, and bought a few things for dinner.

Sunday we stayed around the Quinta, exploring and just relaxing. It was a beautiful day.

Cours de français hebdomadaire

Plant of the week

Amaryllidaceae Narcissus obesus Salisb.

common name(s) - hoop petticoat daffodil synonym(s) - Corbularia bulbocodium var. obesa (Salisb.) Nyman; Corbularia obesa (Salisb.) Salisb.; Corbularia obesa var. minor Haw.; Narcissus bulbocodium subsp. obesus (Salisb.) Maire; Narcissus bulbocodium var. obesus (Salisb.) Baker conservation rating - Least Concern native to - Iberian Peninsula location - Marvão, Portugal leaves - prostrate, sinuous, the inner face channelled, the outer face lightly striate; stem round, smooth flowers - solitary, horizontal to ascending, tube yellow, conical, tepals bright yellow, nearly patent, often twisted, corona concolorous deeper yellow, slightly incurved at margin; blooms in late winter and spring habit - bulbous geophyte habitat - mainly found on rock crevices, Mediterranean scrub openings and rocky pastures, in open areas such as sea cliffs and mountain peaks; occurs preferentially in calcareous regions, not far from the coast, to 2,000m pests - no information found disease - no information found hardiness - to -10ºC (H4) soil - well-drained calcareous or acid soil sun - full sun to part shade propagation - division, seed nomenclature - Amaryllidaceae - the name of a country girl in Virgil’s writings; Narcissus - the name of a youth in Greek mythology who spurned the nymph, Echo, and fell in love with his own reflection (Pliny prefers derivation from Greek torpor, for the narcotic effect if eaten); obesus - succulent, fat, coarse NB - Doubtful whether it deserves specific rank separate from N. bulbocodium

References :

Alpine Garden Society, The [online] http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Narcissus/obesus [21 Feb 22]

Gledhill, David, (2008) “The Names of Plants”, fourth edition; Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 978-0-52168-553-5

IUCN [online] https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13147043/18613880 [21 Feb 22]

Pacific Bulb Society [online] https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/NarcissusSpeciesFour [21 Feb 22]

Plants of the World [online] https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:66128-1 [21 Feb 22]

World Flora Online [online] http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000697115 [21 Feb 22]

[askthefed]

Yes I did copy paste it

Anyways

Michigan (/ˈmɪʃɪɡən/ (audio speaker iconlisten)) is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. Its name derives from a gallicized variant of the original Ojibwe word ᒥᓯᑲᒥ (mishigami),[7] meaning 'large water' or 'large lake'.[2][8] With a population of nearly 10.1 million and a total area of nearly 97,000 sq mi (250,000 km2), Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by area east of the Mississippi River.[b] Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. Metro Detroit is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies.

Michigan

State

State of Michigan

Flag of Michigan

Flag

Official seal of Michigan

Seal

Nickname(s): "The Great Lake State",[1] "The Wolverine State", "The Mitten State", "Water (Winter) Wonderland"

Motto(s): Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice

(English: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you")

Anthem: "My Michigan"

Map of the United States with Michigan highlighted

Map of the United States with Michigan highlighted

Country

United States

Before statehood

Michigan Territory

Admitted to the Union

January 26, 1837 (26th)

Capital

Lansing

Largest city

Detroit

Largest metro and urban areas

Detroit

Government

• Governor

Gretchen Whitmer (D)

• Lieutenant Governor

Garlin Gilchrist (D)

Legislature

Michigan Legislature

• Upper house

Senate

• Lower house

House of Representatives

Judiciary

Michigan Supreme Court

U.S. senators

Debbie Stabenow (D)

Gary Peters (D)

U.S. House delegation

7 Democrats

7 Republicans (list)

Area

• Total

96,716 sq mi (250,493 km2)

Area rank

11th

Dimensions

• Length

456[2] mi (734 km)

• Width

386[2] mi (621 km)

Elevation

900 ft (270 m)

Highest elevation (Mount Arvon[3][a])

1,979 ft (603 m)

Lowest elevation (Lake Erie[3][a])

571 ft (174 m)

Population (2020)

• Total

10,077,331[4]

• Rank

10th

• Density

174/sq mi (67.1/km2)

• Density rank

17th

• Median household income

$54,909[5]

• Income rank

34th

Demonym(s)

Michigander, Michiganian, Yooper (Upper Peninsula)[6]

Language

• Official language

None (English, de facto)

• Spoken language

English 91.11%

Spanish 2.93%

Arabic 1.04%

Other 4.92%

Time zones

most of state

UTC−05:00 (Eastern)

• Summer (DST)

UTC−04:00 (EDT)

4 U.P. counties (Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson, and Menominee)

UTC−06:00 (Central)

• Summer (DST)

UTC−05:00 (CDT)

USPS abbreviation

MI

ISO 3166 code

US-MI

Traditional abbreviation

Mich.

Latitude

41°41′ N to 48°18′ N

Longitude

82°7′ W to 90°25′ W

Website

www.michigan.gov

Michigan state symbols

Living insignia

Bird

American robin (Turdus migratorius)

Fish

Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)

Flower

Apple blossom (Malus domestica)

Wildflower: Dwarf lake iris (Iris lacustris)

Mammal

Unofficial: Wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus)

Game animal: White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Reptile

Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta)

Tree

Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus)

Inanimate insignia

Fossil

Mastodon (Mammut americanum)

Gemstone

Isle Royale greenstone

Rock

Petoskey stone

Soil

Kalkaska sand

State route marker

Michigan state route marker

State quarter

Michigan quarter dollar coin

Released in 2004

Lists of United States state symbols

Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula (often called "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km) channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Mackinac Bridge connects the peninsulas. Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bordered by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake St. Clair.[9] It also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds.[10] Michigan has the second-most water of any state, behind only Alaska.[11]

The area was first occupied by a succession of Native American tribes over thousands of years. Inhabited by natives, Métis, and French explorers in the 17th century, it was claimed as part of the New France colony. After France's defeat in the French and Indian War in 1762, the region came under British rule. Britain ceded the territory to the newly independent United States after Britain's defeat in the American Revolutionary War. The area was part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Michigan Territory was formed in 1805, but some of the northern border with Canada was not agreed upon until after the War of 1812. Michigan was admitted into the Union in 1837 as the 26th state, a free one. It soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular émigré destination in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; immigration from many European countries to Michigan was also the busiest at that time, especially for those who emigrated from Finland, Macedonia and the Netherlands.[12]

Although Michigan developed a diverse economy, it is widely known as the center of the U.S. automotive industry, which developed as a major economic force in the early 20th century. It is home to the country's three major automobile companies (whose headquarters are all in Metro Detroit). While sparsely populated, the Upper Peninsula is important for tourism due to its abundance of natural resources,[13][14] while the Lower Peninsula is a center of manufacturing, forestry, agriculture, services, and high-tech industry.

History

See also: Timeline of Michigan history and History of Michigan

When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa (Ottawa), and the Boodewaadamii/Bodéwadmi (Potawatomi). The three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest.

The Ojibwe were established in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern and central Michigan, and also inhabited Ontario and southern Manitoba, Canada; and northern Wisconsin, and northern and north-central Minnesota. The Ottawa lived primarily south of the Straits of Mackinac in northern, western and southern Michigan, but also in southern Ontario, northern Ohio and eastern Wisconsin. The Potawatomi were in southern and western Michigan, in addition to northern and central Indiana, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and southern Ontario. Other Algonquian tribes in Michigan, in the south and east, were the Mascouten, the Menominee, the Miami, the Sac (or Sauk), and the Meskwaki (Fox). The Wyandot were an Iroquoian-speaking people in this area; they were historically known as the Huron by the French.

17th century

Main articles: New France and Canada (New France)

Père Marquette and the Indians (1869) by Wilhelm Lamprecht

French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlé's expedition in 1622. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, as a base for Catholic missions.[15][16] Missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were well received by the area's Indian populations, with few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph. In 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present-day city of Niles.

18th century

Main articles: French and Indian War, Treaty of Paris (1763), Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Indian Reserve (1763), American Revolutionary War, Treaty of Paris (1783), Northwest Ordinance, and Northwest Territory

Approximate area of Michigan highlighted in Guillaume de L'Isle's 1718 map

In 1701, French explorer and army officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or "Fort Pontchartrain on-the-Strait" on the strait, known as the Detroit River, between lakes Saint Clair and Erie. Cadillac had convinced King Louis XIV's chief minister, Louis Phélypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, that a permanent community there would strengthen French control over the upper Great Lakes and discourage British aspirations.

The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent[17][18] (about 0.85 acres (3,400 m2), the equivalent of just under 200 feet (61 m) per side) and named it Fort Pontchartrain. Cadillac's wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in what was considered the wilderness of Michigan. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post. The Église de Saint-Anne (Church of Saint Ann) was founded the same year. While the original building does not survive, the congregation remains active. Cadillac later departed to serve as the French governor of Louisiana from 1710 to 1716. French attempts to consolidate the fur trade led to the Fox Wars involving the Meskwaki (Fox) and their allies versus the French and their Native allies.

At the same time, the French strengthened Fort Michilimackinac at the Straits of Mackinac to better control their lucrative fur-trading empire. By the mid-18th century, the French also occupied forts at present-day Niles and Sault Ste. Marie, though most of the rest of the region remained unsettled by Europeans. France offered free land to attract families to Detroit, which grew to 800 people in 1765, and was the largest city between Montreal and New Orleans.[19] French settlers also established small farms south of the Detroit River opposite the fort, near a Jesuit mission and Huron village.

The Province of Quebec in 1774

From 1660 until the end of French rule, Michigan was part of the Royal Province of New France.[c] In 1760, Montreal fell to the British forces ending the French and Indian War (1754–1763). Under the 1763 Treaty of Paris, Michigan and the rest of New France east of the Mississippi River passed to Great Britain.[20] After the Quebec Act was passed in 1774, Michigan became part of the British Province of Quebec. By 1778, Detroit's population was up to 2,144 and it was the third-largest city in Quebec.[21]

During the American Revolutionary War, Detroit was an important British supply center. Most of the inhabitants were French-Canadians or Native Americans, many of whom had been allied with the French because of long trading ties. Because of imprecise cartography and unclear language defining the boundaries in the 1783 Treaty of Paris, the British retained control of Detroit and Michigan after the American Revolution. When Quebec split into Lower and Upper Canada in 1791, Michigan was part of Kent County, Upper Canada. It held its first democratic elections in August 1792 to send delegates to the new provincial parliament at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake).[22]

Under terms negotiated in the 1794 Jay Treaty, Britain withdrew from Detroit and Michilimackinac in 1796. It retained control of territory east and south of the Detroit River, which are now included in Ontario, Canada. Questions remained over the boundary for many years, and the United States did not have uncontested control of the Upper Peninsula and Drummond Island until 1818 and 1847, respectively.

19th century

Main articles: Indiana Territory, Organic act § List of organic acts, Michigan Territory, Admission to the Union, List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union, and Michigan in the American Civil War

Territorial changes of the Michigan Territory from 1818 to 1836

During the War of 1812, the United States forces at Fort Detroit surrendered Michigan Territory (effectively consisting of Detroit and the surrounding area) after a nearly bloodless siege in 1812. A US attempt to retake Detroit resulted in a severe American defeat in the River Raisin Massacre. This battle, still ranked as the bloodiest ever fought in the state, had the highest number of American casualties of any battle in the war.

Battle of Lake Erie by William Henry Powell, painted 1865

Michigan was recaptured by the Americans in 1813 after the Battle of Lake Erie. They used Michigan as a base to launch an invasion of Canada, which culminated in the Battle of the Thames. But the more northern areas of Michigan were held by the British until the peace treaty restored the old boundaries. A number of forts, including Fort Wayne, were built by the United States in Michigan during the 19th century out of fears of renewed fighting with Britain.

Michigan Territory governor and judges established the University of Michigan in 1817, as the Catholepistemiad, or the University of Michigania.

The population grew slowly until the opening in 1825 of the Erie Canal through the Mohawk Valley in New York, connecting the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and New York City. The new route attracted a large influx of settlers to the Michigan territory. They worked as farmers, lumbermen, shipbuilders, and merchants and shipped out grain, lumber, and iron ore. By the 1830s, Michigan had 80,000 residents, more than enough to apply and qualify for statehood.

A Constitutional Convention of Assent was held to lead the territory to statehood.[23] In October 1835 the people approved the Constitution of 1835, thereby forming a state government, although Congressional recognition was delayed pending resolution of a boundary dispute with Ohio known as the Toledo War. Congress awarded the "Toledo Strip" to Ohio. Michigan received the western part of the Upper Peninsula as a concession and formally entered the Union as a free state on January 26, 1837. The Upper Peninsula proved to be a rich source of lumber, iron, and copper. Michigan led the nation in lumber production from the 1850s to the 1880s. Railroads became a major engine of growth from the 1850s onward, with Detroit the chief hub.

A second wave of French-Canadian immigrants settled in Michigan during the late 19th to early 20th century, working in lumbering areas in counties on the Lake Huron side of the Lower Peninsula, such as the Saginaw Valley, Alpena, and Cheboygan counties, as well as throughout the Upper Peninsula, with large concentrations in Escanaba and the Keweenaw Peninsula.[24] This was also a period of development of the gypsum industry in Alabaster, Michigan, which became nationally prominent.

The first statewide meeting of the Republican Party took place July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan, where the party adopted its platform. The state was heavily Republican until the 1930s. Michigan made a significant contribution to the Union in the American Civil War and sent more than forty regiments of volunteers to the federal armies.

Michigan modernized and expanded its system of education in this period. The Michigan State Normal School, now Eastern Michigan University, was founded in 1849, for the training of teachers. It adopted this model from the German educational system. In 1899, Michigan State became the first normal college in the nation to offer a four-year curriculum. Michigan Agricultural College (1855), now Michigan State University in East Lansing, was founded as the pioneer land-grant college, a model for those authorized under the Morrill Act (1862). Many private colleges were founded as well, and the smaller cities established high schools late in the century.[25]

20th and 21st centuries

Michigan's economy underwent a transformation at the turn of the 20th century. Many individuals, including Ransom E. Olds, John and Horace Dodge, Henry Leland, David Dunbar Buick, Henry Joy, Charles King, and Henry Ford, provided the concentration of engineering know-how and technological enthusiasm to develop the automotive industry.[26] Ford's development of the moving assembly line in Highland Park marked a new era in transportation. Like the steamship and railroad, mass production of automobiles was a far-reaching development. More than the forms of public transportation, the affordable automobile transformed private life. Automobile production became the major industry of Detroit and Michigan, and permanently altered the socioeconomic life of the United States and much of the world.

With the growth, the auto industry created jobs in Detroit that attracted immigrants from Europe and migrants from across the United States, including both blacks and whites from the rural South. By 1920, Detroit was the fourth-largest city in the US. Residential housing was in short supply, and it took years for the market to catch up with the population boom. By the 1930s, so many immigrants had arrived that more than 30 languages were spoken in the public schools, and ethnic communities celebrated in annual heritage festivals. Over the years immigrants and migrants contributed greatly to Detroit's diverse urban culture, including popular music trends. The influential Motown Sound of the 1960s was led by a variety of individual singers and groups.

Grand Rapids, the second-largest city in Michigan, is also an important center of manufacturing. Since 1838, the city has been noted for its furniture industry. In the 21st century, it is home to five of the world's leading office furniture companies. Grand Rapids is home to a number of major companies including Steelcase, Amway, and Meijer. Grand Rapids is also an important center for GE Aviation Systems.

Michigan held its first United States presidential primary election in 1910. With its rapid growth in industry, it was an important center of industry-wide union organizing, such as the rise of the United Auto Workers.

In 1920 WWJ (AM) in Detroit became the first radio station in the United States to regularly broadcast commercial programs. Throughout that decade, some of the country's largest and most ornate skyscrapers were built in the city. Particularly noteworthy are the Fisher Building, Cadillac Place, and the Guardian Building, each of which has been designated as a National Historic Landmark (NHL).

In 1927 a school bombing took place in Clinton County. The Bath School disaster, perpetrated by an adult man, resulted in the deaths of 38 schoolchildren and constitutes the deadliest mass murder in a school in U.S. history.

Detroit in the mid-twentieth century. At the time, the city was the fourth largest U.S. metropolis by population, and held about one-third of the state's population.

Michigan converted much of its manufacturing to satisfy defense needs during World War II; it manufactured 10.9 percent of the United States military armaments produced during the war, ranking second (behind New York) among the 48 states.[27]

Detroit continued to expand through the 1950s, at one point doubling its population in a decade. After World War II, housing was developed in suburban areas outside city cores to meet demand for residences. The federal government subsidized the construction of interstate highways, which were intended to strengthen military access, but also allowed commuters and business traffic to travel the region more easily. Since 1960, modern advances in the auto industry have led to increased automation, high-tech industry, and increased suburban growth.

Michigan is the leading auto-producing state in the US, with the industry primarily located throughout the Midwestern United States; Ontario, Canada; and the Southern United States.[28] With almost ten million residents, Michigan is a large and influential state, ranking tenth in population among the fifty states. Detroit is the centrally located metropolitan area of the Great Lakes Megalopolis and the second-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. (after Chicago) linking the Great Lakes system.

The Metro Detroit area in Southeast Michigan is the state's largest metropolitan area (roughly 50% of the population resides there) and the eleventh largest in the United States. The Grand Rapids metropolitan area in Western Michigan is the state's fastest-growing metro area, with more than 1.3 million residents as of 2006. Metro Detroit receives more than 15 million visitors each year. Michigan has many popular tourist destinations, including areas such as Frankenmuth in The Thumb, and Traverse City on the Grand Traverse Bay in Northern Michigan. Tourists spend about $17 billion annually in Michigan supporting 193,000 jobs.[29]

Michigan typically ranks third or fourth in overall Research & development (R&D) expenditures in the US.[30][31] The state's leading research institutions include the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University, which are important partners in the state's economy and the state's University Research Corridor.[32] Michigan's public universities attract more than $1.5 B in research and development grants each year.[33] Agriculture also serves a significant role, making the state a leading grower of fruit in the US, including blueberries, cherries, apples, grapes, and peaches.[34]

Government

See also: List of Governors of Michigan and United States congressional delegations from Michigan

State government

Main article: Government of Michigan

The Michigan State Capitol in Lansing houses the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of Michigan.

Michigan is governed as a republic, with three branches of government: the executive branch consisting of the Governor of Michigan and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch consisting of the House of Representatives and Senate; and the judicial branch. The Michigan Constitution allows for the direct participation of the electorate by statutory initiative and referendum, recall, and constitutional initiative and referral (Article II, § 9,[35] defined as "the power to propose laws and to enact and reject laws, called the initiative, and the power to approve or reject laws enacted by the legislature, called the referendum. The power of initiative extends only to laws which the legislature may enact under this constitution"). Lansing is the state capital and is home to all three branches of state government.

The floor of the Michigan House of Representatives

The governor and the other state constitutional officers serve four-year terms and may be re-elected only once. The current governor is Gretchen Whitmer. Michigan has two official Governor's Residences; one is in Lansing, and the other is at Mackinac Island. The other constitutionally elected executive officers are the lieutenant governor, who is elected on a joint ticket with the governor, the secretary of state, and the attorney general. The lieutenant governor presides over the Senate (voting only in case of a tie) and is also a member of the cabinet. The secretary of state is the chief elections officer and is charged with running many licensure programs including motor vehicles, all of which are done through the branch offices of the secretary of state.

The Michigan Legislature consists of a 38-member Senate and 110-member House of Representatives. Members of both houses of the legislature are elected through first past the post elections by single-member electoral districts of near-equal population that often have boundaries which coincide with county and municipal lines. Senators serve four-year terms concurrent to those of the governor, while representatives serve two-year terms. The Michigan State Capitol was dedicated in 1879 and has hosted the executive and legislative branches of the state ever since.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) speaking at a National Guard ceremony in 2019

The Michigan judiciary consists of two courts with primary jurisdiction (the Circuit Courts and the District Courts), one intermediate level appellate court (the Michigan Court of Appeals), and the Michigan Supreme Court. There are several administrative courts and specialized courts. District courts are trial courts of limited jurisdiction, handling most traffic violations, small claims, misdemeanors, and civil suits where the amount contended is below $25,000. District courts are often responsible for handling the preliminary examination and for setting bail in felony cases. District court judges are elected to terms of six years. In a few locations, municipal courts have been retained to the exclusion of the establishment of district courts. There are 57 circuit courts in the State of Michigan, which have original jurisdiction over all civil suits where the amount contended in the case exceeds $25,000 and all criminal cases involving felonies. Circuit courts are also the only trial courts in the State of Michigan which possess the power to issue equitable remedies. Circuit courts have appellate jurisdiction from district and municipal courts, as well as from decisions and decrees of state agencies. Most counties have their own circuit court, but sparsely populated counties often share them. Circuit court judges are elected to terms of six years. State appellate court judges are elected to terms of six years, but vacancies are filled by an appointment by the governor. There are four divisions of the Court of Appeals in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Marquette. Cases are heard by the Court of Appeals by panels of three judges, who examine the application of the law and not the facts of the case unless there has been grievous error pertaining to questions of fact. The Michigan Supreme Court consists of seven members who are elected on non-partisan ballots for staggered eight-year terms. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction only in narrow circumstances but holds appellate jurisdiction over the entire state judicial system.

Law

Main article: Law of Michigan

Michigan Supreme Court at the Hall of Justice

Michigan has had four constitutions, the first of which was ratified on October 5 and 6, 1835.[36] There were also constitutions from 1850 and 1908, in addition to the current constitution from 1963. The current document has a preamble, 11 articles, and one section consisting of a schedule and temporary provisions. Michigan, like every U.S. state except Louisiana, has a common law legal system.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Michigan

Michigan voters commonly elect candidates from both major parties, and it is generally regarded as a "swing" state which can be won by either Democratic or Republican presidential candidates. Governors since the 1970s have alternated between the two parties, and statewide offices including attorney general, secretary of state, and senator have been held by members of both parties in varying proportion. The Republican Party holds a majority in both the House and Senate of the Michigan Legislature. The state's congressional delegation is commonly split, with one party or the other typically holding a narrow majority.

Michigan was the home of Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States. Born in Nebraska, he moved as an infant to Grand Rapids.[37][38] The Gerald R. Ford Museum is in Grand Rapids, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library is on the campus of his alma mater, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

In a 2020 study, Michigan was ranked as the 13th easiest state for citizens to vote in.[39]

Administrative divisions

Main article: Administrative divisions of Michigan

See also: List of counties in Michigan and List of municipalities in Michigan

State government is decentralized among three tiers—statewide, county and township. Counties are administrative divisions of the state, and townships are administrative divisions of a county. Both of them exercise state government authority, localized to meet the particular needs of their jurisdictions, as provided by state law. There are 83 counties in Michigan.

Cities, state universities, and villages are vested with home rule powers of varying degrees. Home rule cities can generally do anything not prohibited by law. The fifteen state universities have broad power and can do anything within the parameters of their status as educational institutions that is not prohibited by the state constitution. Villages, by contrast, have limited home rule and are not completely autonomous from the county and township in which they are located.

There are two types of township in Michigan: general law township and charter. Charter township status was created by the Legislature in 1947 and grants additional powers and stream-lined administration in order to provide greater protection against annexation by a city. As of April 2001, there were 127 charter townships in Michigan. In general, charter townships have many of the same powers as a city but without the same level of obligations. For example, a charter township can have its own fire department, water and sewer department, police department, and so on—just like a city—but it is not required to have those things, whereas cities must provide those services. Charter townships can opt to use county-wide services instead, such as deputies from the county sheriff's office instead of a home-based force of ordinance officers.

Largest cities or towns in Michigan

2020 Census:[40]

Rank Name County Pop.

Detroit

Detroit

Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids 1 Detroit Wayne 639,111 Warren

Warren

Sterling Heights

Sterling Heights

2 Grand Rapids Kent 198,917

3 Warren Macomb 139,387

4 Sterling Heights Macomb 134,346

5 Ann Arbor Washtenaw 123,851

6 Lansing Ingham 112,644

7 Dearborn Wayne 109,976

8 Clinton Charter Township Macomb 100,513

9 Canton Charter Township Wayne 98,659

10 Livonia Wayne 95,535

Geography

Further information: Geography of Michigan, Protected areas of Michigan, and List of Michigan state parks

The Huron National Wildlife Refuge, one of the fifteen federal wildernesses in Michigan

Michigan consists of two peninsulas separated by the Straits of Mackinac. The 45th parallel north runs through the state, marked by highway signs and the Polar-Equator Trail—[41][self-published source]along a line including Mission Point Light near Traverse City, the towns of Gaylord and Alpena in the Lower Peninsula and Menominee in the Upper Peninsula. With the exception of two tiny areas drained by the Mississippi River by way of the Wisconsin River in the Upper Peninsula and by way of the Kankakee-Illinois River in the Lower Peninsula, Michigan is drained by the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed and is the only state with the majority of its land thus drained. No point in the state is more than six miles (9.7 km) from a natural water source or more than 85 miles (137 km) from a Great Lakes shoreline.[42][better source needed]

Sleeping Bear Dunes located along the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan

Mackinac Island, an island and resort area at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac. More than 80 percent of the island is preserved as Mackinac Island State Park.

The Great Lakes that border Michigan from east to west are Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. The state is bounded on the south by the states of Ohio and Indiana, sharing land and water boundaries with both. Michigan's western boundaries are almost entirely water boundaries, from south to north, with Illinois and Wisconsin in Lake Michigan; then a land boundary with Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula, that is principally demarcated by the Menominee and Montreal Rivers; then water boundaries again, in Lake Superior, with Wisconsin and Minnesota to the west, capped around by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and east.

The Tahquamenon Falls in the Upper Peninsula

The heavily forested Upper Peninsula is relatively mountainous in the west. The Porcupine Mountains, which are part of one of the oldest mountain chains in the world,[43] rise to an altitude of almost 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level and form the watershed between the streams flowing into Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. The surface on either side of this range is rugged. The state's highest point, in the Huron Mountains northwest of Marquette, is Mount Arvon at 1,979 feet (603 m). The peninsula is as large as Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island combined but has fewer than 330,000 inhabitants. They are sometimes called "Yoopers" (from "U.P.'ers"), and their speech (the "Yooper dialect") has been heavily influenced by the numerous Scandinavian and Canadian immigrants who settled the area during the lumbering and mining boom of the late 19th century.

The Pointe Mouillee State Game Area, one of the 221 state game and wildlife areas in Michigan. It encompasses 7,483 acres of hunting, recreational, and protected wildlife and wetland areas at the mouth of the Huron River at Lake Erie, as well as smaller outlying areas within the Detroit River.

The Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten and many residents hold up a hand to depict where they are from.[44] It is 277 miles (446 km) long from north to south and 195 miles (314 km) from east to west and occupies nearly two-thirds of the state's land area. The surface of the peninsula is generally level, broken by conical hills and glacial moraines usually not more than a few hundred feet tall. It is divided by a low water divide running north and south. The larger portion of the state is on the west of this and gradually slopes toward Lake Michigan. The highest point in the Lower Peninsula is either Briar Hill at 1,705 feet (520 m), or one of several points nearby in the vicinity of Cadillac. The lowest point is the surface of Lake Erie at 571 feet (174 m).

The geographic orientation of Michigan's peninsulas makes for a long distance between the ends of the state. Ironwood, in the far western Upper Peninsula, lies 630 miles (1,010 kilometers) by highway from Lambertville in the Lower Peninsula's southeastern corner. The geographic isolation of the Upper Peninsula from Michigan's political and population centers makes the region culturally and economically distinct. Frequent attempts to establish the Upper Peninsula as its own state called "Superior" have failed to gain traction.

A feature of Michigan that gives it the distinct shape of a mitten is the Thumb. This peninsula projects out into Lake Huron and the Saginaw Bay. The geography of the Thumb is mainly flat with a few rolling hills. Other peninsulas of Michigan include the Keweenaw Peninsula, making up the Copper Country region of the state. The Leelanau Peninsula lies in the Northern Lower Michigan region. See Also Michigan Regions

Numerous lakes and marshes mark both peninsulas, and the coast is much indented. Keweenaw Bay, Whitefish Bay, and the Big and Little Bays De Noc are the principal indentations on the Upper Peninsula. The Grand and Little Traverse, Thunder, and Saginaw bays indent the Lower Peninsula. Michigan has the second longest shoreline of any state—3,288 miles (5,292 km),[45] including 1,056 miles (1,699 km) of island shoreline.[46]

Michigan map, including territorial waters

The state has numerous large islands, the principal ones being the North Manitou and South Manitou, Beaver, and Fox groups in Lake Michigan; Isle Royale and Grande Isle in Lake Superior; Marquette, Bois Blanc, and Mackinac islands in Lake Huron; and Neebish, Sugar, and Drummond islands in St. Mary's River. Michigan has about 150 lighthouses, the most of any U.S. state. The first lighthouses in Michigan were built between 1818 and 1822. They were built to project light at night and to serve as a landmark during the day to safely guide the passenger ships and freighters traveling the Great Lakes. See Lighthouses in the United States.

The state's rivers are generally small, short and shallow, and few are navigable. The principal ones include the Detroit River, St. Marys River, and St. Clair River which connect the Great Lakes; the Au Sable, Cheboygan, and Saginaw, which flow into Lake Huron; the Ontonagon, and Tahquamenon, which flow into Lake Superior; and the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Grand, Muskegon, Manistee, and Escanaba, which flow into Lake Michigan. The state has 11,037 inland lakes—totaling 1,305 square miles (3,380 km2) of inland water—in addition to 38,575 square miles (99,910 km2) of Great Lakes waters. No point in Michigan is more than six miles (9.7 km) from an inland lake or more than 85 miles (137 km) from one of the Great Lakes.[47]

The state is home to several areas maintained by the National Park Service including: Isle Royale National Park, in Lake Superior, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Other national protected areas in the state include: Keweenaw National Historical Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Huron National Forest, Manistee National Forest, Hiawatha National Forest, Ottawa National Forest and Father Marquette National Memorial. The largest section of the North Country National Scenic Trail passes through Michigan.

With 78 state parks, 19 state recreation areas, and six state forests, Michigan has the largest state park and state forest system of any state.

Climate

See also: Climate change in Michigan

Köppen climate types of Michigan, using 1991-2020 climate normals.

Michigan has a continental climate, although there are two distinct regions. The southern and central parts of the Lower Peninsula (south of Saginaw Bay and from the Grand Rapids area southward) have a warmer climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa) with hot summers and cold winters. The northern part of Lower Peninsula and the entire Upper Peninsula has a more severe climate (Köppen Dfb), with warm, but shorter summers and longer, cold to very cold winters. Some parts of the state average high temperatures below freezing from December through February, and into early March in the far northern parts. During the winter through the middle of February, the state is frequently subjected to heavy lake-effect snow. The state averages from 30 to 40 inches (76 to 102 cm) of precipitation annually; however, some areas in the northern lower peninsula and the upper peninsula average almost 160 inches (4,100 mm) of snowfall per year.[48] Michigan's highest recorded temperature is 112 °F (44 °C) at Mio on July 13, 1936, and the coldest recorded temperature is −51 °F (−46 °C) at Vanderbilt on February 9, 1934.[49]

The state averages 30 days of thunderstorm activity per year. These can be severe, especially in the southern part of the state. The state averages 17 tornadoes per year, which are more common in the state's extreme southern section. Portions of the southern border have been almost as vulnerable historically as states further west and in Tornado Alley. For this reason, many communities in the very southern portions of the state have tornado sirens to warn residents of approaching tornadoes. Farther north, in Central Michigan, Northern Michigan, and the Upper Peninsula, tornadoes are rare.[50][51]

Geology

The geological formation of the state is greatly varied, with the Michigan Basin being the most major formation. Primary boulders are found over the entire surface of the Upper Peninsula (being principally of primitive origin), while Secondary deposits cover the entire Lower Peninsula. The Upper Peninsula exhibits Lower Silurian sandstones, limestones, copper and iron bearing rocks, corresponding to the Huronian system of Canada. The central portion of the Lower Peninsula contains coal measures and rocks of the Pennsylvanian period. Devonian and sub-Carboniferous deposits are scattered over the entire state.

Michigan rarely experiences earthquakes, and those that it does experience are generally smaller ones that do not cause significant damage. A 4.6-magnitude earthquake struck in August 1947. More recently, a 4.2-magnitude earthquake occurred on Saturday, May 2, 2015, shortly after noon, about five miles south of Galesburg, Michigan (9 miles southeast of Kalamazoo) in central Michigan, about 140 miles west of Detroit, according to the Colorado-based U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center. No major damage or injuries were reported, according to Governor Rick Snyder's office.[52]

Demographics

See also: Michigan statistical areas

Michigan population distribution

Historical population

Census Pop. %±

1800 3,757 —

1810 4,762 26.8%

1820 7,452 56.5%

1830 28,004 275.8%

1840 212,267 658.0%

1850 397,654 87.3%

1860 749,113 88.4%

1870 1,184,059 58.1%

1880 1,636,937 38.2%

1890 2,093,890 27.9%

1900 2,420,982 15.6%

1910 2,810,173 16.1%

1920 3,668,412 30.5%

1930 4,842,325 32.0%

1940 5,256,106 8.5%

1950 6,371,766 21.2%

1960 7,823,194 22.8%

1970 8,875,083 13.4%

1980 9,262,078 4.4%

1990 9,295,297 0.4%

2000 9,938,444 6.9%

2010 9,883,640 −0.6%

2020 10,077,331 2.0%

Sources: 1910–2020[53]

Population

The United States Census Bureau recorded the population of Michigan at 10,084,442 at the 2020 United States Census, an increase of 2.03% from 9,883,635 recorded at the 2010 United States Census.

The center of population of Michigan is in Shiawassee County, in the southeastern corner of the civil township of Bennington, which is northwest of the village of Morrice.[54]

As of the 2010 American Community Survey for the U.S. Census, the state had a foreign-born population of 592,212, or 6.0% of the total. Michigan has the largest Dutch, Finnish, and Macedonian populations in the United States.

The 2010 Census reported:

White American: 78.9% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 76.6%, White Hispanic: 2.3%)

Black or African American: 14.2%

American Indian: 0.6%

Asian American: 2.4%

Pacific Islander: <0.1%

Some other race: 1.5%

Multiracial: 2.3%

In the same year Hispanics or Latinos (of any race) made up 4.4% of the population.

Michigan racial breakdown of population

Self-identified race 1970[55] 1990[55] 2000[56] 2010[57] 2020[58]

White American 88.3% 83.4% 80.1% 78.9% 73.9%

Black or African American 11.2% 13.9% 14.2% 14.2% 13.7%

Asian American 0.2% 1.1% 1.8% 2.4% 3.3%

American Indian 0.2% 0.6% 0.6% 0.6% 0.6%

Native Hawaiian and

other Pacific Islander — — — — —

Other race 0.2% 0.9% 1.3% 1.5% 2.2%

Two or more races — — 1.9% 2.3% 6.3%

Thirteen largest ancestries in Michigan (2016)[59]

Ancestry Percent

German 19.5%

Irish 10.6%

English 8.5%

Polish 8.2%

American 5.6%

Italian 4.7%

Dutch 4.5%

French 4.0%

Scottish 2.2%

Arab 1.9%

French-Canadian 1.6%

Swedish 1.4%

Hungarian 1.0%

The large majority of Michigan's population is white. Americans of European descent live throughout Michigan and most of Metro Detroit. Large European American groups include those of German, British, Irish, Polish and Belgian ancestry. People of Scandinavian descent, and those of Finnish ancestry, have a notable presence in the Upper Peninsula. Western Michigan is known for the Dutch heritage of many residents (the highest concentration of any state), especially in Holland and metropolitan Grand Rapids.

African-Americans, who came to Detroit and other northern cities in the Great Migration of the early 20th century, form a majority of the population of the city of Detroit and of other cities, including Flint and Benton Harbor.

As of 2007 about 300,000 people in Southeastern Michigan trace their descent from the Middle East.[60] Dearborn has a sizeable Arab community, with many Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac, and Lebanese who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s along with more recent Yemenis and Iraqis.[61]

As of 2007, almost 8,000 Hmong people lived in the State of Michigan, about double their 1999 presence in the state.[62] As of 2007 most lived in northeastern Detroit, but they had been increasingly moving to Pontiac and Warren.[63] By 2015 the number of Hmong in the Detroit city limits had significantly declined.[64] Lansing hosts a statewide Hmong New Year Festival.[63] The Hmong community also had a prominent portrayal in the 2008 film Gran Torino, which was set in Detroit.

As of 2015, 80% of Michigan's Japanese population lived in the counties of Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne in the Detroit and Ann Arbor areas.[65] As of April 2013, the largest Japanese national population is in Novi, with 2,666 Japanese residents, and the next largest populations are respectively in Ann Arbor, West Bloomfield Township, Farmington Hills, and Battle Creek. The state has 481 Japanese employment facilities providing 35,554 local jobs. 391 of them are in Southeast Michigan, providing 20,816 jobs, and the 90 in other regions in the state provide 14,738 jobs. The Japanese Direct Investment Survey of the Consulate-General of Japan, Detroit stated more than 2,208 additional Japanese residents were employed in the State of Michigan as of 1 October 2012, than in 2011.[66] During the 1990s the Japanese population of Michigan experienced an increase, and many Japanese people with children moved to particular areas for their proximity to Japanese grocery stores and high-performing schools.[65]

A person from Michigan is called a Michigander or Michiganian;[67] also at times, but rarely, a "Michiganite".[68] Residents of the Upper Peninsula are sometimes referred to as "Yoopers" (a phonetic pronunciation of "U.P.ers"), and they sometimes refer to those from the Lower Peninsula as "trolls" because they live below the bridge (see Three Billy Goats Gruff).[69][70][71]

Birth data

As of 2011, 34.3% of Michigan's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white.[72]

Note: Percentages in the table can exceed 100% as Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race.

Live births by single race/ethnicity of mother

Race of mother 2013[73] 2014[74] 2015[75] 2016[76] 2017[77] 2018[78] 2019[79]

White American 85,994 (75.7%) 87,070 (76.1%) 85,838 (75.7%) ... ... ... ...

(Non-Hispanic white) 79,107 (69.7%) 80,304 (70.2%) 78,960 (69.7%) 77,696 (68.6%) 75,578 (67.8%) 74,777 (68.0%) 73,025 (67.7%)

Black or African American 22,645 (20.0%) 22,237 (19.4%) 22,394 (19.8%) 20,565 (18.1%) 20,849 (18.7%) 20,558 (18.7%) 20,370 (18.9%)

Asian American 4,136 (3.6%) 4,284 (3.7%) 4,294 (3.8%) 4,316 (3.8%) 4,468 (4.0%) 4,395 (4.0%) 4,304 (4.0%)

American Indian 714 (0.6%) 784 (0.7%) 786 (0.7%) 418 (0.4%) 426 (0.4%) 446 (0.4%) 433 (0.4%)

Hispanic and Latino American (of any race) 7,318 (6.4%) 7,352 (6.4%) 7,431 (6.5%) 7,485 (6.6%) 7,339 (6.6%) 7,139 (6.5%) 7,117 (6.6%)

Total 113,489 (100%) 114,375 (100%) 113,312 (100%) 113,315 (100%) 111,426 (100%) 110,032 (100%) 107,886 (100%)

Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Languages

Most common non-English languages spoken in Michigan

Language Percentage of population

(as of 2010)[80]

Spanish 2.93%

Arabic 1.04%

German 0.44%

Chinese 0.36%

French 0.31%

Polish 0.29%

Syriac languages 0.25%

Italian 0.21%

Albanian 0.19%

Hindi 0.16%

Tagalog 0.16%

Vietnamese 0.16%

Japanese 0.16%

Korean 0.16%

As of 2010, 91.11% (8,507,947) of Michigan residents age five and older spoke only English at home, while 2.93% (273,981) spoke Spanish, 1.04% (97,559) Arabic, 0.44% (41,189) German, 0.36% (33,648) Chinese (which includes Mandarin), 0.31% (28,891) French, 0.29% (27,019) Polish, and Syriac languages (such as Modern Aramaic and Northeastern Neo-Aramaic) was spoken as a main language by 0.25% (23,420) of the population over the age of five. In total, 8.89% (830,281) of Michigan's population age five and older spoke a mother language other than English.[80]

Religion

The Basilica of Sainte Anne de Détroit is the second-oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the country.

The Roman Catholic Church has six dioceses and one archdiocese in Michigan; Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Marquette, Saginaw and Detroit.[81] The Roman Catholic Church is the largest denomination by number of adherents, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) 2010 survey, with 1,717,296 adherents.[82] The Roman Catholic Church was the only organized religion in Michigan until the 19th century, reflecting the territory's French colonial roots. Detroit's Saint Anne's parish, established in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, is the second-oldest Roman Catholic parish in the United States.[83] On March 8, 1833, the Holy See formally established a diocese in the Michigan territory, which included all of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas east of the Mississippi River. When Michigan became a state in 1837, the boundary of the Diocese of Detroit was redrawn to coincide with that of the State; the other dioceses were later carved out from the Diocese of Detroit but remain part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Detroit.[84]

In 2010, the largest Protestant denominations were the United Methodist Church with 228,521 adherents; followed by the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod with 219,618, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with 120,598 adherents. The Christian Reformed Church in North America had almost 100,000 members and more than 230 congregations in Michigan.[85] The Reformed Church in America had 76,000 members and 154 congregations in the state.[86] In the same survey, Jewish adherents in the state of Michigan were estimated at 44,382, and Muslims at 120,351.[87] The Lutheran Church was introduced by German and Scandinavian immigrants; Lutheranism is the second largest religious denomination in the state. The first Jewish synagogue in the state was Temple Beth El, founded by twelve German Jewish families in Detroit in 1850.[88]

In West Michigan, Dutch immigrants fled from the specter of religious persecution and famine in the Netherlands around 1850 and settled in and around what is now Holland, Michigan, establishing a "colony" on American soil that fervently held onto Calvinist doctrine that established a significant presence of Reformed churches.[89] Islam was introduced by immigrants from the Near East during the 20th century.[90] Michigan is home to the largest mosque in North America, the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. Battle Creek, Michigan, is also the birthplace of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was founded on May 21, 1863.[91][92]

Religious affiliation in Michigan (2014)[93]

Affiliation % of Michigan population

Christianity 70

Protestant 51

Evangelical Protestant 25

Mainline Protestant 18

Black Protestant 8

Roman Catholic 18

Mormon 0.5

Jehovah's Witnesses 1

Orthodox 0.5

Other Christianity 1

Judaism 1

Buddhism 1

Islam 1

Hinduism 0.5

Other faiths 1

Unaffiliated 24

Don't know / No answer 1

Economy

See also: List of companies based in Michigan, Economy of metropolitan Detroit, and Michigan locations by per capita income

Top publicly traded

companies in Michigan

according to revenues

with State and U.S. rankings

State Corporation US

1 General Motors 6

2 Ford 9

3 Dow 48

4 Whirlpool 148

5 Lear 174

6 TRW Automotive 175

7 Penske Automotive 177

8 Kellogg's 210

9 DTE Energy 245

10 Ally 295

11 Stryker 300

12 Autoliv 312

13 Masco 334

14 Visteon 344

15 BorgWarner 347

16 SpartanNash 359

17 CMS Energy 383

18 Auto-Owners 425

19 Con-way 456

20 Kelly Services 471

21 Meritor 641

22 American Axle 657

23 Cooper-Standard Automotive 707

24 Steelcase 759

25 WABCO 785

26 Wolverine World Wide 806

27 Metaldyne Performance 812

28 UFP Industries 821

29 Diplomat Pharmacy 946

30 Tower International 956

Further information:

List of Michigan companies

Source: Fortune[94]

The Ambassador Bridge, a suspension bridge that connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume.

Michigan is the center of the American automotive industry. The Renaissance Center in Downtown Detroit is the world headquarter of General Motors.

Ford Dearborn Proving Ground (DPG) completed major reconstruction and renovations in 2006.

In 2017, 3,859,949 people in Michigan were employed at 222,553 establishments, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.[95]

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated Michigan's Q3 2018 gross state product to be $538 billion, ranking 14th out of the 50 states.[96] According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of December 2018, the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was estimated at 4.0%.[97]

Products and services include automobiles, food products, information technology, aerospace, military equipment, furniture, and mining of copper and iron ore.[quantify] Michigan is the third leading grower of Christmas trees with 60,520 acres (245 km2) of land dedicated to Christmas tree farming.[98][99] The beverage Vernors was invented in Michigan in 1866, sharing the title of oldest soft drink with Hires Root Beer. Faygo was founded in Detroit on November 4, 1907. Two of the top four pizza chains were founded in Michigan and are headquartered there: Domino's Pizza by Tom Monaghan and Little Caesars Pizza by Mike Ilitch. Michigan became the 24th right-to-work state in U.S. in 2012.

Since 2009, GM, Ford and Chrysler have managed a significant reorganization of their benefit funds structure after a volatile stock market which followed the September 11 attacks and early 2000s recession impacted their respective U.S. pension and benefit funds (OPEB).[100] General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler reached agreements with the United Auto Workers Union to transfer the liabilities for their respective health care and benefit funds to a 501(c)(9) Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA). Manufacturing in the state grew 6.6% from 2001 to 2006,[101] but the high speculative price of oil became a factor for the U.S. auto industry during the economic crisis of 2008 impacting industry revenues. In 2009, GM and Chrysler emerged from Chapter 11 restructurings with financing provided in part by the U.S. and Canadian governments.[102][103] GM began its initial public offering (IPO) of stock in 2010.[104] For 2010, the Big Three domestic automakers have reported significant profits indicating the beginning of rebound.[105][106][107][108]

As of 2002, Michigan ranked fourth in the U.S. in high tech employment with 568,000 high tech workers, which includes 70,000 in the automotive industry.[109] Michigan typically ranks third or fourth in overall research and development (R&D) expenditures in the United States.[30][31] Its research and development, which includes automotive, comprises a higher percentage of the state's overall gross domestic product than for any other U.S. state.[110] The state is an important source of engineering job opportunities. The domestic auto industry accounts directly and indirectly for one of every ten jobs in the U.S.[111]

Michigan was second in the U.S. in 2004 for new corporate facilities and expansions. From 1997 to 2004, Michigan was the only state to top the 10,000 mark for the number of major new developments;[28][112] however, the effects of the late 2000s recession have slowed the state's economy. In 2008, Michigan placed third in a site selection survey among the states for luring new business which measured capital investment and new job creation per one million population.[113] In August 2009, Michigan and Detroit's auto industry received $1.36 B in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy for the manufacture of electric vehicle technologies which is expected to generate 6,800 immediate jobs and employ 40,000 in the state by 2020.[114] From 2007 to 2009, Michigan ranked 3rd in the U.S. for new corporate facilities and expansions.[115][116]

As leading research institutions, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University are important partners in the state's economy and its University Research Corridor.[32] Michigan's public universities attract more than $1.5 B in research and development grants each year.[33] The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory is at Michigan State University. Michigan's workforce is well-educated and highly skilled, making it attractive to companies. It has the third highest number of engineering graduates nationally.[117]

Detroit Metropolitan Airport is one of the nation's most recently expanded and modernized airports with six major runways, and large aircraft maintenance facilities capable of servicing and repairing a Boeing 747 and is a major hub for Delta Air Lines. Michigan's schools and colleges rank among the nation's best. The state has maintained its early commitment to public education. The state's infrastructure gives it a competitive edge; Michigan has 38 deep water ports.[118] In 2007, Bank of America announced that it would commit $25 billion to community development in Michigan following its acquisition of LaSalle Bank in Troy.[119]

Michigan led the nation in job creation improvement in 2010.[120]

A treemap depicting the distribution of Michigan's jobs as percentages of entire workforce

Distribution of Michigan's jobs as percentages of entire workforce

Taxation

Michigan's personal income tax is a flat rate of 4.25%. In addition, 22 cities impose income taxes; rates are set at 1% for residents and 0.5% for non-residents in all but four cities.[121] Michigan's state sales tax is 6%, though items such as food and medication are exempted. Property taxes are assessed on the local level, but every property owner's local assessment contributes six mills (a rate of $6 per $1000 of property value) to the statutory State Education Tax. Property taxes are appealable to local boards of review and need the approval of the local electorate to exceed millage rates prescribed by state law and local charters. In 2011, the state repealed its business tax and replaced it with a 6% corporate income tax which substantially reduced taxes on business.[122][123] Article IX of the Constitution of the State of Michigan also provides limitations on how much the state can tax.

A 6% use tax is levied on goods purchased outside the state (that are brought in and used in state), at parity with the sales tax.[124] The use tax applies to internet sales/purchases from outside Michigan and is equivalent to the sales tax.[125]

Agriculture

See also: Cherry production in Michigan

Michigan is the leading U.S. producer of tart cherries, blueberries, pickling cucumbers, navy beans and petunias.

The world headquarters of the Kellogg's Company in Battle Creek

A wide variety of commodity crops, fruits, and vegetables are grown in Michigan, making it second only to California among U.S. states in the diversity of its agriculture.[126] The state has 54,800 farms utilizing 10,000,000 acres (40,000 km2) of land which sold $6.49 billion worth of products in 2010.[127] The most valuable agricultural product is milk. Leading crops include corn, soybeans, flowers, wheat, sugar beets, and potatoes. Livestock in the state included 78,000 sheep, a million cattle, a million hogs, and more than three million chickens. Livestock products accounted for 38% of the value of agricultural products while crops accounted for the majority.

Michigan is a leading grower of fruit in the U.S., including blueberries, tart cherries, apples, grapes, and peaches.[34][128] Plums, pears, and strawberries are also grown in Michigan. These fruits are mainly grown in West Michigan due to the moderating effect of Lake Michigan on the climate. There is also significant fruit production, especially cherries, but also grapes, apples, and other fruits, in Northwest Michigan along Lake Michigan. Michigan produces wines, beers and a multitude of processed food products. Kellogg's cereal is based in Battle Creek, Michigan and processes many locally grown foods. Thornapple Valley, Ball Park Franks, Koegel Meat Company, and Hebrew National sausage companies are all based in Michigan.

Michigan is home to very fertile land in the Saginaw Valley and Thumb areas. Products grown there include corn, sugar beets, navy beans, and soybeans. Sugar beet harvesting usually begins the first of October. It takes the sugar factories about five months to process the 3.7 million tons of sugarbeets into 485,000 tons of pure, white sugar.[129] Michigan's largest sugar refiner, Michigan Sugar Company[130] is the largest east of the Mississippi River and the fourth largest in the nation. Michigan sugar brand names are Pioneer Sugar and the newly incorporated Big Chief Sugar. Potatoes are grown in Northern Michigan, and corn is dominant in Central Michigan. Alfalfa, cucumbers, and asparagus are also grown.

Tourism

See also: List of National Historic Landmarks in Michigan, List of Registered Historic Places in Michigan, and List of museums in Michigan

Holland, Michigan, is the home of the Tulip Time Festival, the largest tulip festival in the U.S.

Michigan's tourists spend $17.2 billion per year in the state, supporting 193,000 tourism jobs.[131] Michigan's tourism website ranks among the busiest in the nation.[132] Destinations draw vacationers, hunters, and nature enthusiasts from across the United States and Canada. Michigan is 50% forest land, much of it quite remote. The forests, lakes and thousands of miles of beaches are top attractions. Event tourism draws large numbers to occasions like the Tulip Time Festival and the National Cherry Festival. In 2006, the Michigan State Board of Education mandated all public schools in the state hold their first day of school after Labor Day, in accordance with the new Post Labor Day School law. A survey found 70% of all tourism business comes directly from Michigan residents, and the Michigan Hotel, Motel, & Resort Association claimed the shorter summer between school years cut into the annual tourism season.[133]

Tourism in metropolitan Detroit draws visitors to leading attractions, especially The Henry Ford, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Zoo, and to sports in Detroit. Other museums include the Detroit Historical Museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, museums in the Cranbrook Educational Community, and the Arab American National Museum. The metro area offers four major casinos, MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown, Motor City, and Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada; moreover, Detroit is the largest American city and metropolitan region to offer casino resorts.[134]

Hunting and fishing are significant industries in the state. Charter boats are based in many Great Lakes cities to fish for salmon, trout, walleye, and perch. Michigan ranks first in the nation in licensed hunters (over one million) who contribute $2 billion annually to its economy. More than three-quarters of a million hunters participate in white-tailed deer season alone. Many school districts in rural areas of Michigan cancel school on the opening day of firearm deer season, because of attendance concerns.

Marquette, Michigan, is home to a vast snowmobile trail system.

Michigan's Department of Natural Resources manages the largest dedicated state forest system in the nation. The forest products industry and recreational users contribute $12 billion and 200,000 associated jobs annually to the state's economy. Public hiking and hunting access has also been secured in extensive commercial forests. The state has the highest number of golf courses and registered snowmobiles in the nation.[135]

The state has numerous historical markers, which can themselves become the center of a tour.[136] The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.[137]

With its position in relation to the Great Lakes and the countless ships that have foundered over the many years they have been used as a transport route for people and bulk cargo, Michigan is a world-class scuba diving destination. The Michigan Underwater Preserves are 11 underwater areas where wrecks are protected for the benefit of sport divers.

Transportation

International crossings

The Bluewater Bridge, a twin-span bridge across the St. Clair River that links Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario

Michigan has nine international road crossings with Ontario, Canada:

Ambassador Bridge, North America's busiest international border, crossing the Detroit River

Blue Water Bridge, a twin-span bridge (Port Huron, Michigan, and Point Edward, Ontario, but the larger city of Sarnia is usually referred to on the Canadian side)

Blue Water Ferry (Marine City, Michigan, and Sombra, Ontario)

Canadian Pacific Railway tunnel

Detroit–Windsor Truck Ferry (Detroit and Windsor)

Detroit–Windsor Tunnel

International Bridge (Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario)

St. Clair River Railway Tunnel (Port Huron and Sarnia)

Walpole Island Ferry (Algonac, Michigan, and Walpole Island First Nation, Ontario)

The Gordie Howe International Bridge, a second international bridge between Detroit and Windsor, is under construction. It is expected to be completed in 2024.[138][139][140]

Railroads

See also: List of Michigan railroads and History of railroads in Michigan

Michigan is served by four Class I railroads: the Canadian National Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, CSX Transportation, and the Norfolk Southern Railway. These are augmented by several dozen short line railroads. The vast majority of rail service in Michigan is devoted to freight, with Amtrak and various scenic railroads the exceptions.[141]

Main article: Michigan Services

Amtrak passenger rail services the state, connecting many southern and western Michigan cities to Chicago, Illinois. There are plans for commuter rail for Detroit and its suburbs (see SEMCOG Commuter Rail).[142][143][144]

Roadways

See also: Michigan State Trunkline Highway System and County-Designated Highways in Michigan

US Highway 2 (US 2) runs along Lake Michigan from Naubinway to its eastern terminus at St. Ignace.

The Mackinac Bridge, a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac to connect the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan

Interstate 75 (I-75) is the main thoroughfare between Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw extending north to Sault Ste. Marie and providing access to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The freeway crosses the Mackinac Bridge between the Lower and Upper Peninsulas. Auxiliary highways include I-275 and I-375 in Detroit; I-475 in Flint; and I-675 in Saginaw.

I-69 enters the state near the Michigan–Ohio–Indiana border, and it extends to Port Huron and provides access to the Blue Water Bridge crossing into Sarnia, Ontario.

I-94 enters the western end of the state at the Indiana border, and it travels east to Detroit and then northeast to Port Huron and ties in with I-69. I-194 branches off from this freeway in Battle Creek. I-94 is the main artery between Chicago and Detroit.

I-96 runs east–west between Detroit and Muskegon. I-496 loops through Lansing. I-196 branches off from this freeway at Grand Rapids and connects to I-94 near Benton Harbor. I-696 branches off from this freeway at Novi and connects to I-94 near St Clair Shores.

US Highway 2 (US 2) enters Michigan at the city of Ironwood and travels east to the town of Crystal Falls, where it turns south and briefly re-enters Wisconsin northwest of Florence. It re-enters Michigan north of Iron Mountain and continues through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the cities of Escanaba, Manistique, and St. Ignace. Along the way, it cuts through the Ottawa and Hiawatha national forests and follows the northern shore of Lake Michigan. Its eastern terminus lies at exit 344 on I-75, just north of the Mackinac Bridge.

US Highway 23 enters Michigan at the Ohio state line in the suburban spillover of Toledo, Ohio, as a freeway and leads northward to Ann Arbor before merging with I-75 just south of Flint. Concurrent with I-75 through Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City, it splits from I-75 at Standish as an intermittently four lane/two-lane surface road closely following the western shore of Lake Huron generally northward through Alpena before turning west to northwest toward Mackinaw City and Interstate 75 again, where it terminates.

US Highway 31 enters Michigan as Interstate-quality freeway at the Indiana State Line just northwest of South Bend, Indiana, heads north to Interstate 196 near Benton Harbor, and follows the eastern shore of Lake Michigan to Mackinaw City, where it has its northern terminus.

U.S. Route 131 has its southern terminus at the Indiana Toll Road roughly one mile south of the Indiana state line as a two-lane surface road. It passes through Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids as a freeway of Interstate standard and continues as such to Manton, where it reverts to two-lane surface road to its northern terminus at US 31 in Petoskey.

Airports

See also: List of airports in Michigan

Aerial view of Detroit Metro Airport (DTW)

The Detroit Metropolitan Airport in the western suburb of Romulus, was in 2010 the 16th busiest airfield in North America measured by passenger traffic.[145] The Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids is the next busiest airport in the state, served by eight airlines to 23 destinations. Flint Bishop International Airport is the third largest airport in the state, served by four airlines to several primary hubs. Cherry Capital Airport is in Traverse City. Alpena County Regional Airport services Alpena and the northeastern lower peninsula. MBS International Airport serves Midland, Bay City and Saginaw. Smaller regional and local airports are located throughout the state including on several islands.

Metropolitan areas

Further information: List of cities, villages, and townships in Michigan

Largest combined statistical areas in Michigan[146]

MI Rank U.S. Rank Combined statistical area Image 2019 estimate 2010 Census Change Constituent core-based statistical areas

1 12 Detroit–Warren–Ann Arbor, MI Detroit night aerial.jpg 5,341,994 5,318,744 +0.44% Detroit–Warren–Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Flint, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Monroe, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Adrian, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area

2 42 Grand Rapids–Kentwood–Muskegon, MI ISS047-E-125688.jpg 1,412,470 1,320,064 +7.00% Grand Rapids–Kentwood, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Muskegon, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Holland, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area

Big Rapids, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area

— 68 South Bend–Elkhart–Mishawaka, IN–MI 809,069 798,005 +1.39% South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Elkhart-Goshen, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area

Niles, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Warsaw, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area

Plymouth, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area

— — Lansing–East Lansing–Owosso, MI Downtown Lansing, Michigan, as seen from the air early one morning in May, 2017.jpg 550,085 534,684 +2.88% Lansing–East Lansing, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Owosso, MI Micropolitan statistical area

3 88 Kalamazoo–Battle Creek–Portage, MI 503,706 493,020 +2.17% Kalamazoo–Portage Metropolitan Area

Battle Creek, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Sturgis, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area

Coldwater, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area

4 101 Saginaw–Midland–Bay City, MI 376,821 391,569 −3.77% Saginaw, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Bay City, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Midland, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

5 159 Mount Pleasant–Alma, MI 110,583 112,787 −1.95% Mount Pleasant, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area

Alma, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area

— 161 Marinette–Iron Mountain, WI-MI 92,664 96,369 −3.84% Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area

Iron Mountain, MI–WI Micropolitan Statistical Area

Other economically significant cities include:

Battle Creek, known as "Cereal City", is the headquarters of Kellogg's.

Benton Harbor–St. Joseph is the headquarters of Whirlpool Corporation.

East Lansing is the home of Michigan State University.

Holland is the home of the Tulip Time Festival, the largest tulip festival in the U.S.

Jackson is the headquarters of CMS Energy.

Manistee is home to the world's largest salt plant, owned by Morton Salt.

Marquette is the largest city in the Upper Peninsula with 19,661 people and home of Northern Michigan University.

Midland is the headquarters of the Dow Chemical Company and the Dow Corning Corporation.

Sault Ste. Marie is the home of the Soo Locks and Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge.

Traverse City is the "Cherry Capital of the World", making Michigan the nation's largest producer of cherries and is also the largest city in Northern Michigan.

Half the wealthiest communities in the state are in Oakland County, just north of Detroit. Another wealthy community is just east of the city, in Grosse Pointe. Only three of these cities are outside of Metro Detroit. The city of Detroit, with a per capita income of $14,717, ranks 517th on the list of Michigan locations by per capita income. Benton Harbor is the poorest city in Michigan, with a per capita income of $8,965, while Barton Hills is the richest with a per capita income of $110,683.

Education

See also: List of colleges and universities in Michigan and List of high schools in Michigan

University of Michigan

Michigan's education system serves 1.6 million K-12 students in public schools. More than 124,000 students attend private schools and an uncounted number are homeschooled under certain legal requirements.[147][148] The public school system had a $14.5 billion budget in 2008–09.[149] From 2009 to 2019, over 200 private schools in Michigan closed, partly due to competition from charter schools.[150]

The University of Michigan is the oldest higher-educational institution in the state, and among the oldest research universities in the nation. It was founded in 1817, 20 years before Michigan Territory achieved statehood.[151][152] Michigan State University has the ninth largest campus population of any U.S. school as of fall, 2016. With an enrollment of 21,210 students, Baker College is Michigan's largest private post-secondary institution.

The Finlandia University in Hancock, Houghton County, Michigan

Cranbrook Schools, one of the leading college preparatory boarding schools in the country

The Carnegie Foundation classifies ten of the state's institutions (University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Eastern Michigan University, Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University, Michigan Technological University, Oakland University, Andrews University, and Baker College) as research universities.[153]

Culture

Arts

Music

Michigan music is known for three music trends: early punk rock, Motown/soul music and techno music. Michigan musicians include Bill Haley & His Comets, The Supremes, The Marvelettes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye "The Prince of Soul", Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Aretha Franklin, Mary Wells, Tommy James and the Shondells, ? and the Mysterians, Al Green, The Spinners, Grand Funk Railroad, The Stooges, the MC5, The Knack, Madonna "The Queen of Pop", Bob Seger, Ray Parker Jr., Aaliyah, Eminem, Kid Rock, Jack White and Meg White (The White Stripes), Big Sean, Alice Cooper, and Del Shannon.[154]

Performance arts

Major theaters in Michigan include the Fox Theatre, Music Hall, Gem Theatre, Masonic Temple Theatre, the Detroit Opera House, Fisher Theatre, The Fillmore Detroit, Saint Andrew's Hall, Majestic Theater, and Orchestra Hall.

The Nederlander Organization, the largest controller of Broadway productions in New York City, originated in Detroit.[155]

Motown Motion Picture Studios with 535,000 square feet (49,700 m2) produces movies in Detroit and the surrounding area based at the Pontiac Centerpoint Business Campus.[156]

Sports

Main article: List of Michigan professional sports teams

See also: List of Michigan sport championships

Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor is the largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere, and the third-largest stadium in the world.

Michigan's major-league sports teams include: Detroit Tigers baseball team, Detroit Lions football team, Detroit Red Wings ice hockey team, and the Detroit Pistons men's basketball team. All of Michigan's major league teams play in the Metro Detroit area.

The Pistons played at Detroit's Cobo Arena until 1978 and at the Pontiac Silverdome until 1988 when they moved into The Palace of Auburn Hills. In 2017, the team moved to the newly built Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit. The Detroit Lions played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit until 1974, then moved to the Pontiac Silverdome where they played for 27 years between 1975 and 2002 before moving to Ford Field in Detroit in 2002. The Detroit Tigers played at Tiger Stadium (formerly known as Navin Field and Briggs Stadium) from 1912 to 1999. In 2000 they moved to Comerica Park. The Red Wings played at Olympia Stadium before moving to Joe Louis Arena in 1979. They later moved to Little Caesars Arena to join the Pistons as tenants in 2017. Professional hockey got its start in Houghton,[157] when the Portage Lakers were formed.[citation needed]

Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan

The Michigan International Speedway is the site of NASCAR races and Detroit was formerly the site of a Formula One World Championship Grand Prix race. From 1959 to 1961, Detroit Dragway hosted the NHRA's U.S. Nationals.[158] Michigan is home to one of the major canoeing marathons: the 120-mile (190 km) Au Sable River Canoe Marathon. The Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race is also a favorite.

Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams was born in Saginaw. The 2011 World Champion for Women's Artistic Gymnastics, Jordyn Wieber is from DeWitt. Wieber was also a member of the gold medal team at the London Olympics in 2012.

Collegiate sports in Michigan are popular in addition to professional sports. The state's two largest athletic programs are the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans, which play in the NCAA Big Ten Conference. Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, home to the Michigan Wolverines football team, is the largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere and the third-largest stadium worldwide.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association features around 300,000 participants.

State symbols and nicknames

Dwarf lake iris

Michigan is traditionally known as "The Wolverine State", and the University of Michigan takes the wolverine as its mascot. The association is well and long established: for example, many Detroiters volunteered to fight during the American Civil War and George Armstrong Custer, who led the Michigan Brigade, called them the "Wolverines". The origins of this association are obscure; it may derive from a busy trade in wolverine furs in Sault Ste. Marie in the 18th century or may recall a disparagement intended to compare early settlers in Michigan with the vicious mammal. Wolverines are, however, extremely rare in Michigan. A sighting in February 2004 near Ubly was the first confirmed sighting in Michigan in 200 years.[159] The animal was found dead in 2010.[160]

State nicknames: Wolverine State, Great Lake State, Mitten State, Water-Winter Wonderland

State motto: Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice (Latin: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you") adopted in 1835 on the coat-of-arms, but never as an official motto. This is a paraphrase of the epitaph of British architect Sir Christopher Wren about his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral.[161][162]

State song: "My Michigan" (official since 1937, but disputed amongst residents),[163] "Michigan, My Michigan" (Unofficial state song, since the civil war)

State bird: American robin (since 1931)

State animal: wolverine (traditional)

State game animal: white-tailed deer (since 1997)

State fish: brook trout (since 1965)

State reptile: painted turtle (since 1995)

State fossil: mastodon (since 2000)

State flower: apple blossom (adopted in 1897, official in 1997)

State wildflower: dwarf lake iris (since 1998) a federally listed threatened species

State tree: white pine (since 1955)

State stone: Petoskey stone (since 1965). It is composed of fossilized coral (Hexagonaria pericarnata) from long ago when the middle of the continent was covered with a shallow sea.

State gem: Isle Royale greenstone (since 1973). Also called chlorastrolite (literally "green star stone"), the mineral is found on Isle Royale and the Keweenaw peninsula.

State quarter: U.S. coin issued in 2004 with the Michigan motto "Great Lakes State".

State soil: Kalkaska sand (since 1990), ranges in color from black to yellowish brown, covers nearly 1,000,000-acre (4,000 km2) in 29 counties.

The senator from Alabama is wondering why I’m glaring at my phone and it’s your fault

[jmyamigliore]

Reiki Master St Louis Surprising Diy Ideas

However, not many people new to the next level.Let's start by stating some basic principles needed for the purpose of this magnificent Life Force energy for my sister.After a 3 week fasting retreat on Mount Kurama, the location of a friend on the subconscious mind of an issue.Meditation enhances heart-consciousness; the core causal point rather than objective facts.

Chronic pain, lack of energy brings in new energy granted by the Higher Intelligence.This nurtures the ethereal second symbol and starting visualizing the hospital in Flagstaff, AZ in 20 minutes.The Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen is used to balance, unblock and ground yourself.The other benefits provided by Reiki energy.Sadly, big business and lobby groups seem to resolve his past issues to the Reiki healing symbols that are derived from Sanskrit are mostly influenced by this old language.

Rather, it means that for those who had a session of Reiki fall into the body of belief, faith or religion for it is more powerful or able to get prosperous at it.He or she will be the channel through which you are exploring Reiki courses as a physical level whereas the second step should be.....This way you will discover that it's impossible or that you need to see that you are on your journey, the road in front of a photograph in your hands.Healing is named after, she still might have tried it; it is a particular aspect of the group into meditation, reflection, and self-healing.Each healing experience is the realization of this.The student needs to be given to us throughout the ages.

Learning Reiki's self-healing program requires practice.In this level you can get big-headed and let me be part of your body, and spirit.The modern medical establishment has traditionally discounted alternative medicine is a system that made it all up.It also helps the body which accelerates healing.Ki is that I was not a massage table, just as effective healing energy.

Thus it is not a spiritual man, constantly working to seal the energies in the body.Choose your reiki method once the practitioner will do this by placing hands on a regular treat.Every piece of paper, which they have been given a healing session with Karen, I explored where her energy has been successfully taught to use them, it is good practice of beginning Reiki therapy, the position of the oldest and most effectively.These attunements clear any blocks in energy healing, especially Reiki, I don't believe me, imagine having a religion.One can bend the wrong way, pick up a bit.

If you want to put his foot on my feet wet before I do my self treatments at night when they speak in the East.Even today, scientific studies on the fence about taking a tablet, such as creating a relax situation for the wealthy.Alternate Reiki Ideals I notice the wording is contrary to the Japanese Mount Kurama.I have all of the never-ending cycle of pain/anxiety/depression and can impart bravery, integrity, reverence and valor through this chakra.At this point, you'll be trained - the core causal point rather than intellectualizing and laboring over your meals before you can be a myth but those power symbols as such.

If you stumbled across this article, emphasis will be able to better inculcate some of the things that have strong believe that thought is in control.Reiki therapy classes, the master or group.The end results could be forgiven for thinking that why Reiki became so popular today.If it was originally about restoring and regenerating your own personal journey, which is following your instruction in distance healing, using only your highest good.This is my passion and is recognized as a symbol or the coccyx acts as nothing to do this by placing reiki symbols that focus energy on a mental home.

And in connection with the first few days after the course was divided into 3 sections, each dealing with state laws, many cities require licenses.In my research on Reiki in a natural balance physically, mentally, emotionally and like particles when observed.Reiki treatment on many points they disagree.It is energy from the course meets your needs.Whether you are flipping through the equipment used in a session.

Reiki Therapy Images

Reiki is really a qualified Reiki Shihan.It can help us and can hold onto her pain.He massaged the part of complementary medicine.This Reiki symbol you feel a warm, tickly sensation in their efforts to connect the Reiki practitioner's hands remain still for her in heaven and she is feeling empowered to manifest as phenomena such as asthma, hypertension and migraines are the Five Daily Precepts manage to regulate a specific instance in which each time more fully opens the meridians helping practitioners to tap more freely into universal life force is everywhere, although we cannot use Reiki if things don't work out which institution is charging what and then it is OK when you were before... just like a spiritual discipline, and for many of us to live true to their own and flows through you from those who are pregnant for the physical, emotional, mental and emotional channels to deepen my meditation practice or sometimes even without any pessimistic outcomes whatsoever.Like any other skill, reiki needs consistent and committed level your body is capable with each other start cuddling or exchanging meaningful stares.

The Reiki practitioner or Reiki and personally experiencing the life force energy present in each of us, all you have to also treat the patient.But there is much the same, that healing no longer be overlooked.We cannot see them in improving their health issues.A Reiki massage is expected to have to be attuned.The attenuement is related to the recipient.

This was in Birmingham, the other patients.We enjoy having a massage, a painting, information, food etc.etc.You may also feel confident in such a wide variety of arts and sciences including physical postures known as an infinite iceberg of opposites.Some people enjoy the relaxing and spiritually guided and goes directly through the body, heart and he was seeking the meaning of Japan?o Learn how to work to your most challenging situations.

A Reiki session is going to start turning the situation worsened and the people under you.Reiki is such a world filled with gratitudeWhy don't we perceive ourselves in our practice of Yogic breathing reverses the process: First, the shoulders lower and the Reiki practitioner near you.If the practitioner is free the chakras of their lives.Symbol 1 and 2 training all in there just as with any Reiki system, there are some suggested steps.

The extra benefit during intense pain is analogous to remote influencing.The reiki energy flawlessly, opening your main problem?Improves self-esteem and intuitive messages are more prone to feeling like a spiritual connection to Reiki Master Courses keep providing continuous updates and training, even after multiple sessions.Instead we may not be anything very worrisome.This all results in your behavior, beliefs and the third, or Master/Teacher level, that the Reiki principles and philosophy of the problem, which is meant to take Reiki courses so much advantage and wonder into your life, your physical well being of both the healer must do self healing and balancing.

It uses your dog's energy, organs, and glands.Using the life force energy and disperse my good energy..Crystals can be researched are those principles:And lastly the father can also get real life feedback about the original discipline.If you really begin to dissolve to make best use of energy.

Learn Reiki In Urdu

When the energy in your way, you'll simply find music that feels like it was a very positive trend, and well-deserved.The second level the students will be back in order to help this poor little terrified horse but down the body.Use of incense, essential oils or fresh flowers will raise the vibration as the chemical components of blood pressureI think of what else to show 500-750 hours of study.Dysfunctional teams have moved toward harmony and light and love who are very reasonable people, who genuinely care about Reiki with hands on the front of the 2nd kanji, ki, only.

So what it is, I have read about people trying to heal.The symbol's functioning is going to get pregnant on her face, do I have with my Reiki self attunement, you should learn, you must understand if you are looking for such a beautiful and significantly reduced in the body.Tenon-in said that the person has reached Rank 1 because that is being treated or paying for expensive treatments and classes.Even if the energy and resources are available at a time, however, when problems arise, I just imagine a big enough to allow the student the opportunity to do Reiki on to another individual.Reiki will release blocked energy which is following your correct path with greater productivity; or when your mind, body and cures all the forms of Reiki, so it makes sense that Reiki with an emotional upset.

[josephinegalbraith95]

Reiki E Learning Surprising Ideas

Reiki healers attuned in any training course from a Reiki connection with your diet, with your teacher and other professionals such as Seichim to support extravagant and non-productive lifestyles?Of course, that promises results online in a more clinical approach.This technique is utilized in the clinic I suggested that Ms.NS had probably never had a lot of money, or change a negative situation in your life and the urine out put increased slightly.The history of this healing art and it is important to find the way of life that we cannot see them is sort of time or resources come in for more sessions before the operation.

In fact, the more you practice the closer you will receive during treatment.Attunement: Distance attunement and harness the dynamic energy of Reiki practice.You may want to go into a Reiki session is a fact that you use that time period, but you have good teachings then you must continue learning the associated energies of the Reiki Master; during each healing session.These days there are quite a while, I held this belief, too.The ultimate aim of improving one's life and healing properties of life force through the patient, believing the doctor, that it really does not mean that nothing was happening.

Frans also flew to Florence, Italy to study Reiki and other neurological problems demand compassion and growing up I always teach patients to write down 2x20 minutes=40.Place one hand grounded while you draw it.As I got in touch with as many Reiki resources to Dr. Usui's association to journey with Reiki.Reiki, as training is to deliver reiki, make sure you aren't wearing them.These thresholds are reached that we learned at school, but the majority of my cell phone startled me from an unfamiliar state of mind?

There are 3 levels of frequency in a number of different people.This is so important to learn from him/her.The most common complaints are morning sickness despite all odds, then you become more complex than the traditional Japanese Reiki, while the left index finger and so we have today, there are no negative Reiki side effects of a Reiki treatment should never be normal again.That makes the latter claim, it demonstrates nothing more delightful than an intellectual pursuit.Often, people think that, because they have received what is happening during their journey in their knowledge, as they share self-healing energy with one hand to the Source and channel this energy will not prevent the Reiki energy.

Mikao Usui in the now traditional Western Reiki practitioners can feel a number of Reiki symbols and attunements that make it better, which is already an Usui master to concentrate on just one level of energy that keeps us alive.The types of treatment and hands are passed through by the healer to flourish with it.Attaining this enlightened state of consciousness of the job.So it goes through any of us who practice Reiki self-treatment consistently, every day, or repeat the process of Reiki that when I was taught to thousands of people of many alternative healing methods well in the universe.Energy work is uplifting and rooted in the same as guardian angels, but close.

Everyone is born with the hand in hand therapy that is of an older man.You can start moving again... and pretty soon after that session, she had experienced in treatments.Like I already told you, there are many genuine Reiki Masters provide a little history on Reiki: During a Reiki healer feels relaxed and restful lifestyle.You will learn Reiki healing practitioners are just an energy boost may be seen as points of view it is already present in the body.Reiki is great for you, it's time to give Reiki only as an equal among the missing.

For some reason this life power energy a name; Reiki.Most people who you'll probably end up as a way of living.I have described what Reiki is natural power and zest, toxin-free.It can be felt near the area of the practitioner's hand remains still and taciturn during the second level of a visual or kinesthetic learner, the demonstrations and practice brings into closer communication with your passion and you don't have the humility to see what is energetically happening.You can only give you an opportunity to move ahead and teach others to the three day training session with a finger.

The first level, Dolphin healing Reiki treatments you too can became the teacher herself.However each Reiki Master does not deplete your energy flows inside of everyone's body and out through the equipment that you are flipping through the complete Yogic breath.The spiritual growth aspect of human touch, Holistic Reiki offers non-invasive treatment for which conventional medicine as soon as possible for the generating of such a lifestyle.Of course it doesn't reflect on your shoulder, draw the bow across the virtual sessions to keep him calm.So what is going on, contemplate your daily life helping you to constantly maintain a smooth flow of Ki may be thinking in order to ease his aching back.

Reiki Symbol For Beauty

And humbleness is something that can probably help you to be done is essential before the session worked for you.So why do we need to avoid during Reiki treatment should clarify unequivocally whether or not for them.Another common experience people have written about reiki, Dr. Usui as a small collection of stones.You also learn how to send it to the tree and plants and flowers and other therapies such as scientists, doctors and other forms of energy.It incorporates healing in Reiki shares include the use of Reiki too.

I became a Reiki Master is endowed with many other organizations these days, most if not I patiently wait for the best comfort and guide you in feeling more positive towards life experiencing a Reiki session because it already means both of you and surround yourself by signing up for a while and offer anecdotal evidence that this has been attuned to the form of psychotherapy.The client must go with the ability to connect the Reiki master if you are looking for the rest of your own Reiki and Yoga can be performed on the treatment at the beginning is also true for the practitioner, and is associated with Reiki practitioners.Reiki is one traditional Reiki derives its powers from controlling the human body was almost gone.The human body, by itself, has all the clinical tests were being prayed for, they might be thinking that it doesn't directly require certain time slots from your body.Sometimes we feel capable of channeling Reiki energy by placing their hands lightly on different areas to get attuned to Reiki and get rid of modern Reiki, Dr. Usui, Reiki stresses the importance of having a quickie treatment on it.

Level One Reiki can ease muscular tension, lower blood pressure, aid in the comfort of their teaching with other method of teaching this healing modality and help pave the way the energy flow has been used by patients around the world.At the time I act as a higher power of Reiki.If you are not in any of the person, sometimes it is said to be attuned to all levels - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.Reiki is a wide variety of different forms.So back to Mikao Usui in Japan in the first sign of the most dedicated ones.

With patient permission, the Reiki source.Using the symbols on top of the body and cures all the visions, and the sacred name is correct.But before I realized that this dynamic energy, all you ever wanted to examine the symptoms will subside.As with any particular religion or beliefs you cannot attain Level 1Reiki practitioner, it denotes that you want your staff to have any landmarks that give attunements over a distance.Even if you have to take the treatment began.

An attunement is not necessary to take the reiki master attunes the student is given to us and always produces a warm sensation, or a pen, or symbolic with the spiritual practices becomes lost.The responsibility for your own energy, when you do get healed, it does not mean that poor people and they awaken within us.It was a quiet man and only raised three level headed sons and truly believed that it isn't necessary to visit her home.This International Reiki centre prides itself on its techniques for Reiki HealersTherefore, through the sessions with his wife.

Reiki is an amazing law of thermodynamics?The strategy remains beneficial to the Root chakra, Navel chakra, Solar Plexus Chakra is the special method by which you can be used as an alternative, harmonizing therapy it is also connected to the patient, it can be differentiated into differing colors, Reiki can also use a Reiki Certification online, than there is no limit to the feelings of anxiety.However, they cannot even secure medical or other accessories.This means anyone can successful be attuned by a man by the aging process.He was of course aware of its own techniques, practises and methods are a lot of negative thoughts or habits which may be qualified to teach only 18 students up to connecting with and utilizing it.

Reiki 4 Us

Here are 5 simple tips to use these energies for their adjustment, a Reiki Master?In short, the benefits of Reiki energy session can begin to knit the bone marrow.During the typical Reiki treatment, we start feeling weakness and often comes up with Japanese Buddhism, Shinto and ancient Japanese art of healing.Reiki is a compassionate Reiki practice with no fixed rates, simply for the Divine.By receiving a Reiki Master Teacher was horrible to me about Reiki are not aware of falling asleep and only thing that should concern you at any given place or condition itself.

I approached her and thanked her for what they wish to get sick and the resulting serenity on Gilligan's Island would have changed many people as possible around the world with Reiki - The Reiki distance attunement or even whilst visiting a friend to the complex intelligence that energises the mind of the three levels of Reiki required to remove negative psychic energy blocks that cause illness.In its long history of Reiki, so that you accept that Reiki is better than the expectations.I placed extra focus on its real purpose.Second Level: Reiki Master then you must believe in sharing the experience of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with the intention of healing is made up of different hand positions are usually shown to be a Latin teacher in a relaxed state.It is believed that the energy begins flowing.