The SideRoad Columnist

Take a trip down the U.P.'s many SideRoads with Sharon Kennedy

Penned by the author in recent years, The SideRoad Columnist presents a selection of previously published newspaper columns. To delight the reader, each installment tells a complete story in miniature. This book includes a mixture of nostalgia, humor, shared experiences and sundry observations. The stories are short--under two pages--making the book ideal for readers who have limited time or are passengers on a journey. Readers will smile as they recall a time when boys slathered hair cream on their locks, women sported a bouffant hairdo and barnyards were a common sight.

Whether recovering from her many domestic and kitchen disasters, navigating the U.P.'s notoriously bad roads or trying to properly celebrate a lifetime of holidays, Kennedy's adventures will bring a groan of recognition.

The SideRoad Columnist is sure to delight and amuse mature folks as they remember the old days. Younger readers will laugh as the author describes the way things were, her struggle to understand technology and the green dot following everyone on Facebook. Kennedy's ability to entertain, while simultaneously writing terse columns, is undeniable. She's a writer for our times.

"Through her rich memories and witty observations, Sharon Kennedy offers a realistic perspective of today's world with the sense of humor of a life thoroughly lived. She will make you laugh and cry and think about your own life and all the lessons that come with it." -- Sarah Leach, Outstate Michigan Executive Editor, Gannett Media 

"The author's U.P. experience dates back to childhood and she calls on her years of living in the eastern Upper Peninsula as inspiration for many of the columns she wrote for Gannett Media. Kennedy's columns run the gamut from keen-eyed observations, reflections, and occasional opinions, to frequent comments on her life in the U.P. from the present back to her childhood. I think readers will especially like her childhood recollections that range from life in a small cabin heated by wood to being bundled into a cocoon by mother to go out in the winter, or visiting her childhood kitchen and taking inventory of its contents. The pieces make for a mosaic of U.P. life. The columns are always interesting, entertaining, and quickly read. It's like eating a bowl of my wife's popcorn. You can't stop until it's all gone." -- Tom Powers, Michigan in Books

Sharon M. Kennedy lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on the land of her youth. As an opinion writer for Gannett Media, her newspaper columns reflect a keen observation of people and their experiences. Whether humorous, serious, or poignant, she records events and situations relatable to individuals of various ages. Kennedy has the remarkable ability to communicate with readers as if they were sitting at her kitchen table, sharing a cup of coffee and a laugh with her.