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“It’s similar to other environmental catastrophes, like the water crisis in Flint, Mich., and elsewhere, and we really just need more awareness, more pressure, more prioritization in our federal government to get the funding on the issue that we require for solutions.”

What moved you to create the fictional Cutler County, Mich.?

Cutler County is based on Emmet County, Mich., and my hometown of Petoskey, which is situated on Lake Michigan and is startlingly beautiful.

In one example he recounts, a war veteran eligible for benefits under the GI Bill was not able to get a loan in Flint, Mich., because local lenders weren’t willing to make them in Black neighborhoods.

But Flint, Mich., native Claressa Shields, for whom pugilism was a passion, entered the ring early: As a teenage phenom, she punched her way to record-setting, Olympic-gold levels.