Mary McKSchmidt

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About Mary McKSchmidt
Mary McKSchmidt replaces a briefcase, calculator, and business suit with a notepad, camera, and foul weather gear and journeys into unchartered waters to help build the political will necessary to clean up and protect the Great Lakes. A published author, photographer, and blogger, when not in West Michigan, she may be found wandering the planet, usually by boat, foot, or bicycle.
Follow her blogs at https://www.marymckschmidt.com.
Recent published columns include:
* "Tools for Success Started With East Lansing Education," The Lansing State Journal, June 21, 2018.
* "Mentors Matter," The Holland Sentinel, May 2, 2018
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Author Updates
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Blog postI do not know why he, a baseball cap beneath
his hard hat, silver-white beard, easy smile,
and wearing the lime-glow vest of construction,
stopped to tell me her story. I was lost in the fragrance
of the beach rose, savoring a sweet smell strong enough
to overpower the salty air of the ocean; a Japanese beauty
once treasured, now declared invasive. An outlaw.
Not on the top of the list, like the common reed
3 weeks ago Read more -
Blog postA block away and still I notice your tousled hair,
rumpled overcoat too small to button, eyes riveted
on me. Seven decades of training chill the sweat
off my body and yet I continue jogging toward you,
a compass needle drawn to the magnetic meridian.
But imaginary you are not and my head automatically
turns to avoid eye contact, the palm of my hand raised,
a shield as I pass. I say “no” befor2 months ago Read more -
Blog postIt is during the spring, when the honeysuckle’s white sliver of petals showers the roadside with sweetness, that the last mile and a half of my morning jog seems less formidable. This morning I violated all jogging protocols and paused to smell the bush’s fragrance. I wondered if the honeysuckle blooms in Ukraine.
For months I have felt helpless as I watched, from afar, the slaughter of the Ukrainian2 months ago Read more -
Blog postA Mother/Daughter poem written by Jane McKinney and Mary McKSchmidt to “keep our wits about us” during a recent trip to the emergency room. Fortunately, all is well.
Why Am I Here?
Here in this dinky room
stripped to the waist,
given a shirt that opens
in the back, doesn’t button,
trapped in a bed with bars,
while people are scurrying
about like squirrels on attack?
You tell me keep a sense of humor.
Look a3 months ago Read more -
Blog postWhen I saw the effects COVID’s social isolation was having on my mother, the difficult physical and mental changes that occur with age, witnessed the deep sorrow lingering from the deaths of her husband and dog, and years later, from the death of her twin, I introduced the excitement of outdoor adventures into our weekly routine. Walking arm-in-arm through the city and county parks of Holland, we laughed, traded memories, discussed birds, flowers, wetlands, rivers, and lakes. But it was o3 months ago Read more
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Blog postThe morning of the moon’s passing,
she whispered the unthinkable;
that she had not the energy
to keep writing.
Like the tundra swans,
necks long and extended
stretching to reach the Carolinas
from their home in the Arctic,
it was all she could do to get by.
And then she chanced upon a note
written to her from a legendary poet,
picked up a pen and wrote a poem.
And then a4 months ago Read more -
Blog postWith my one good hand
I type an email
to my Republican
congressman to thank him
for standing united
with the president
with Ukraine
with NATO
with all democracies
including ours
fighting to survive
an invasion
by a predator
so common
it is has become invisible
like the PFAS in our water
yet so debilitating
it threatens the health
and lives of all.
It is called
5 months ago Read more -
Blog postSeven miles apart
phones in hands
a mother
in the flatlands
edging the city
daughter in the forest
of the dunes
swapping similes
to describe evening skies
like the blush of a magnolia
wings of a fluttering monarch
eggs in the nest of a robin
petals of a long-spur violet
spray of assorted marigolds
face of Annabelle’s blossom
gray of the morning fog.
They debate verbs
to describe clo6 months ago Read more
Titles By Mary McKSchmidt
Written in a voice that is charming, witty, and honest, Uncharted Waters shares the stories of a Fortune 500 executive learning to sail, learning to love, learning to fight for the water and life she holds dear. Mary McKSchmidt is an adventurer—a woman who wanders across southern Africa, achieves success in positions typically held by men, hikes, bikes, and camps alone up the eastern coast of Lake Michigan, and joins her fun-loving, equally-adventuresome husband on voyages across the sometimes treacherous, always unpredictable, waters of Lake Michigan. In the presence of this lake, she gains clarity, finds inner strength, and hears the whispered musings of her heart.
When she discovers Lake Michigan and all the Great Lakes are at risk, potentially damaged beyond repair, she replaces her briefcase, calculator, and business suit with a notepad, camera, and foul weather gear and embarks on a new adventure, this time to help create the political will necessary to clean up and protect the lakes. Captivating, heart-warming, and insightful, Uncharted Waters serves as a reminder that while we can live without a lot of things, clean, safe drinking water is not one of them.
When she discovers Lake Michigan and all the Great Lakes are at risk, potentially damaged beyond repair, she replaces her briefcase, calculator, and business suit with a notepad, camera, and foul weather gear and embarks on a new adventure, this time to help create the political will necessary to clean up and protect the lakes. Captivating, heart-warming, and insightful, Uncharted Waters serves as a reminder that while we can live without a lot of things, clean, safe drinking water is not one of them.
In the second edition of Tiny Treasures, Mary McKSchmidt shares reflections inspired by the wildflowers and over one hundred of her favorite photographs as she takes the reader behind the lens of her camera. In this artistic combination of writing and photography, the artist shares her transition from life working for the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to one pausing to celebrate, share, and protect even the tiniest treasures of Nature.