Spartan Profiles: Len Barnes
MICHIGAN LIVING AROUND THE GLOBE
By comparison to his global forays, Herodotus might seem like a stick in the mud. After spending a half century traveling to every state, every continent, and 130 countries and island groups, via more than 50 cruises, travel writer Len Barnes, ’43, former editor of Michigan Living, the periodic magazine for Automobile Club of Michigan members, has distilled his experiences “from the Amazon jungle to the Antarctic ice cap” in a new book, Offbeat Cruises & Excursions (Hour Publishing, 2001).
The best part of Barnes’ world travels is that they came as part of his job as editor. “All I had to do was decide where I wanted to go and write an article about it,” he says.
Len is an expert at recounting his travel adventures, having “won more travel awards than anyone else” from the Midwest Travel Writers, the oldest travel writers group, which he founded in 1952. Len also served as president of the Society of American Travel Writers in 1985.
A native of Boyne City, Len chose to attend MSU over the University of Michigan. “At UM, they told me that if I went there to study journalism I would not be allowed to work for a newspaper,” he recalls. “At MSU, they told me that they wouldn’t let me study journalism unless I worked at the student newspaper.” Accordingly, Len came to East Lansing and eventually became editor-in-chief of the State News.
After MSU, Len served out his ROTC obligations in the Aleutian Islands, where he ran the newspaper, the radio station, and founded a literacy training program for 10,000 military personnel based in Shemya. That stint woke up his appetite for traveling, he recounts.
Although he retired in 1996, there are still a couple of places he never visited. “Well, there’s Afghanistan,” he says. “And there are some places in China.” A member of the MSU Alumni Association, Len strongly endorses the MSUAA travel program for alumni (msualum.com).
