GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Perhaps the only one more excited than the turkey Governor Gretchen Whitmer pardoned is Seneca Sojourn.
The turkey, Mitch E. Gander, will live another day.
Sojourn, a lifelong Michigander, lover of wordsmithing, Vernors, the Great Lakes, and all things the Mitten— crafted the name selected by Whitmer for the lucky bird who will live to see another Turkey Day.
Seneca shares the title with three other people, who she says are clearly just as brilliant as she is. Nervous that the competition was meant for children, Sojourn says that hopefully this at least teaches Michigan children that you can't win all the time: something she knows Spartans and Wolverines alike both understand.
Sojourn is a proud Michigan State Spartan, and says the naming competition is all in good spirits, much like most people from the Great Lakes State.
"Being a Michigander, it's finding the positive in any negative," Sojourn said.
The winning name "Mitch E. Gander" sounds oddly similar to "Michigander." Sojourn says it's an obvious play on words, one she almost didn't submit—with fears it wouldn't win. After researching "turkey facts" and coming up with nil, Sojourn figured "ope" and that she better go with her gut.
“I just circled back to Mitch E. Gander. I was like, it’s too perfect,” Sojourn said.
Sojourn says she would have liked to have been there for Mitch's big moment—and hopes to meet him one day.
