Michigan Native Pens Love Letter To State In New York Times

METRO DETROIT, MI — Eric Spitznagel is living proof you can take the boy out of Michigan, but you can’t take Michigan out of the boy. The Chicago-based writer, who grew up in the Leelanau Peninsula town of Northport, recently penned a “recommendation” that appeared in the New York Times. It’s essentially a love letter to The Mitten.

Published in the Times’ magazine, Spitznagel chronicles his love of all things Michigan, including Petoskey stones. He wrote about giving his future wife a necklace made of the stones, and lamented her “are you being serious” rejection of the gift. It was a wake up call of sorts for Spitznagel.

“I’d spent my life believing that Michigan contains everything that a person could reasonably want or need,” he wrote in the recommendation. “It has rock jewelry, perfect views of the aurora borealis, Mackinac Island fudge, winning college football teams, no toll roads, more than 120 lighthouses and endless beachfront property, stretched across a longer coastline than any state’s save for Alaska’s.”

Spitznagel works as an executive writer for Men’s Health Magazine. He wrote in the recommendation about chaffing at the criticisms leveled against Michigan by people around the country.

“It’s still disconcerting to me how outsiders, even fellow Midwesterners, feel about my home state: that it’s blighted, abandoned, despair-inducing,” Spitznatel wrote. “When I mention that I’m from Michigan, they’ll say things like, ‘Isn’t that where they poison kids with drinking water?’ Or ‘I don’t know how you survive the winters up there.’ Or ‘It’s amazing that you let both Michael Moore and Ted Nugent live there.’

Spitznagel recently told the Lansing State Journal that he has received mostly positive feedback from the New York times recommendation. "The only thing that some people are wary about is when I made fun of Detroit," he told the newspaper. "As a Michigan native, I believe I am within my rights to make fun of Detroit. I've spent my fair share of time in Detroit, too."

When he’s not working in Chicago, Spitznagel heads back home to Michigan. He has even gone about showing his young son about the state’s virtues.

“I don’t live in Michigan anymore, but I visit the state every summer, and now that I’m a father, I’ve begun introducing my 6-year-old son to Michigan culture,” Spitznagel wrote in the Times. “I’ve taken him to our beaches and taught him how to search for Petoskeys.”

Rock Harbor Lighthouse Photo by Ray Dumas via Flickr Commons. Photo of Joe Louis fist by Alexander Day via Flickr Commons.