Mackinac Island, Michigan: A step back in time

[linazelle]

OK I'm here for a class. I'm black. I'm one of maybe five visitng blacks on the entire island. The place is beautiful. I'm staying at the Grand Hotel--one of the best on the island. I was stunned to walk into the dining room, a 10,000 square foot or so room, full of rich white people and black servants lined up as far as the eye can see--not one white servant.

I didn't know places like this existed anymore. It was like stepping back in time.

I sat through a class today here at the resort today where the facilitator used Clinton as the example of moral integrity ("...meaning of is..") and read an article from the New York Times about Bush and Kerry being unable to tell the truth about the economy or to fix it. The moran stopped short of saying he was going to vote for *. I am going to let him know in my evaluation that I don't appreciate the topic during a class my company pays for.

Back to dinner. The live orchestra played through dinner and ended with a flourish of patriotic songs like You're a Grand Old Flag. The patrons clapped and retired to the block-long veranda for mint juleps.

I share this experience because witnessing the stark contrast here seems like a microcosm of the growing class divide as well as the ongoing racial divide. I am amazed and I know if anybody can understand why it's other DUers.

[rumguy]

1. I've been to a few places like that

Where it seems like you stepped back in time....

But the Grand Hotel sounds beautiful. I love big old hotels like that.

[goclark]

2. The Grand Hotel Is Grand

but you are right it is Lost in the Twilight Zone.You are also in Upper Michigan(Terry Nichols/Tim McVeigh) type country.

I would give the facilatator a piece of my mind! What a jerk.
I bet he wouldn't say that stuff if the conference was in Pontiac!
My brothers and sisters would take him on!

Have a safe trip home.

[freetobegay]

3. I use to frolic there as a child

That place is just as you put it stepping back in time. It's part of history. Would you rather them alter history & not show the truth?

[enigmatic]

4. Great place..

my family is from the UP and going to Mackinac Island was always a treat. If you haven't gone to St. Ignance yet, go to Castle Rock and enjoy the view of the Straits...

[CaTeacher]

7. I love that place!

Do they still not allow motorized vehicles on the island? I love all the horse drawn carriages (and all the homemade fudge factories).

I am a huge fan of places where you can step back in time--I am a history buff--and I love the feeling of experiencing the past.

However, there is no excuse for racism EVER--and you should definitely complain about that!

[dad]

5. .

Can you believe I worked at the Grand Hotel one summer? Accounting dept....

[5thGenDemocrat]

6. I spent the summers of 1983 and '84 waiting tables on "Mackatraz"

Most of the employees of color at the Grand Hotel are Jamaican. They throw one hell of a bash for all the workers (from all the shops) at the end of the season (just after Labor Day).
The Grand is nice if you're visiting. The worker bees stay away from there like it's infested with the plague. Go just down the hill to the French Outpost (aka The Outhouse). Folks there are a lot more normal.
John
Worked at the Murray Hotel in 1983 and at Ty's Restaurant and the Pilot House in 1984. Haven't been back since.