Jim Malec

I was born in Petoskey and grew up on Pleasantview Road outside Harbor Springs, across from Dorie Sarns’ horse farm. Dorie and her husband, Norman, opened Nub’s Nob in Pleasantview Valley in 1958, and after she sold it, she started El Lobo, a therapeutic riding program for people with disabilities. Grow up across the road from that and you figure out early what people up here are like: they build things, and they build them for their neighbors.

Northern Michigan has come to be seen more and more as a tourist town, and I wanted to build something for the people who live here all year, and for everyone who loves this place and the people in it. That became Fits Like A Mitten.

I also edit the Journal. I read every story before it runs, check it against the sources and send it back when it needs another pass.