Local Thoughts About Boston Bombings and More In This Week's Blogs

Bloggers from across the area are updating our Local Voices section weekly. Check out their newest contributions below. If you are interested in starting a blog on Patch, it's easy! Simply log in and click "Start A Blog". We look forward to hearing from you!

Boston Marathon Tragedy: Heartbreak for Runners Everywhere

Following the tragedy this week, Megan O'Leary wrote about her experince as a runner and watching the events unfold in Boston. She wrote, "Maybe we feel a connection because we all know the hard work and dedication you have to put in. The sense of accomplishment you feel at the end of the race. The pure love of the sport. Whatever it is, I know we all feel it. I saw numerous reports that marathoners who had finished the race, ran to nearby hospitals to donate blood. I watched the news and saw crowds of people rushing to help runners on the course get away from the blast. Those acts reaffirm my feelings that this community is a family."

Get into the Swing in 2013. Great Tips for Your Golf Game

Need to improve your golf game? You'll want to check out this blog from Scott Millman. In it he writes, "If you haven’t swung a club or hit a ball since last fall, you are bound to be a little rusty. I can't stress this enough: warm up and stretch before every round - even if it’s only for a few minutes to help loosen up."

Bullied Kids do come around with love and support

On Plymouth-Canton Patch, Jerry Grady writes about bullies and helping them overcome their attitudes with love and support, "They are people who only know how to get attention by thinking they are in control, when in reality they are just scared little children with no one loving them or caring for them. All of us can overcome them if we just band together like Boston did, Rise above the abuse, not engage with them, and just move on knowing they can only effect us if we let them."

Oh No – Not Again!

Vickie L. Markavitch, Superintendent, Oakland Schools, writes about the education budget in her frist post on Oakland County Patch sites. In it she writes, "Overall, when we do the “adds” and “subtracts” in the three budgets, none of them increase funding for K-12 students.  None of them replace the money lost to K-12 schools over recent years.  All three claim they increase funding to schools, and each of them do in one line item or another; but they take it away in other places.  When we do ALL the math, it is a negative number not a positive one."