About Found Michigan

Found Michigan is a weekly spotlight on Michigan life, history and culture, sharing stories from the Great Lakes State through interviews, fiction, essays, photography—and even the occasional recipe.

This site is not for profit. All content produced for Found Michigan is subsidized through donations as well as sales from the Found Michigan shop. Which is to say: If you like what you’ve read so far, and you want to see more, consider picking up a new shirt for yourself or the Michigan-lover in your life.

If you are a writer or photographer interested in contributing a story or essay to Found Michigan, please see our submissions guidelines.

Comment Moderation Policy

In order to provide a safe forum for the open exchange of ideas, Found Michigan pre-moderates comments on all articles and blog posts. This takes time, so if you do not see your comment appear right away, please be patient. We do not censor comments based on political or ideological point of view. However, we will delete comments that fall under any of the following:

- abusive, viscous, inflammatory and mean-spirited comments

- off-topic comments, and/or comments that do not further the discussion in a productive or thoughtful way

- ad hominem attacks

- comments with excessive profanity

- comments that contain racist, sexist, homophobic or other slurs

- comments containing solicitations and/or advertising

- comments containing content that may infringe on the copyright or intellectual property rights of others

Finally, we ask that all commenters use their real names or the name of their business when commenting, and not made-up names or screen names. We reserve the right not to post any comment that is submitted under a made-up name. We are not afraid to put our real names on our work, and if you stand by the idea or opinion presented in your comment, you shouldn’t be either.

Who We Are

Found Michigan is maintained by two journalists who are atoning for their careers in disposable media by creating meaningful, compelling stories about the place they love.

Lou Blouin, Co-founder/Contributor

Lou has lived in several vastly different regions around the Great Lakes State, including teeny Fairview in the northeast corner of the Lower Peninsula, the diverse world of family housing on campus in Ann Arbor, the small farm town of Clare, and the tourist haven of Traverse City. He now lives in downtown Detroit, where he is the senior producer for the syndicated public radio series The New Jazz Archive.

Lou’s Michigan Hot Five: Joe Louis Arena, The American Mastodon: Michigan’s official state fossil, Koegel’s Hot Dogs or Ring Bologna pickled to perfection by his mother (the bologna, not the hot dogs), Pictured Rocks, his mom and dad.

Emily Bingham, Co-founder/Contributor

The daughter of a farm girl from Romeo and a lifelong Detroit boy from the city’s east side, Emily spent her entire upbringing in the same ranch house on a dirt road on the northernmost edge of the metro Detroit suburbs. A Michigan State J-School grad, she spent several years living in Traverse City, where she worked as a Michigan travel writer (a tough gig, involving lots of beaches, free food, and a trip to the top of the Mackinac Bridge). She now lives in downtown Detroit, where she works as a web editor, freelance journalist, and wannabe photographer.

Emily’s Michigan Hot Five: Paul Bunyan, swimming in Torch Lake, white pines, the beach at Cathead Bay, “Michigan Lefts”