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A house in my neighborhood last year added one of those 12-foot skeletons to their impressive tableau of monsters hanging from the eaves and gargoyles with glowing red eyes guarding the driveway. My daughter, Claire, fell in love with all of it. Jeremy, as we named the biggest skeleton, remained through Christmas and beyond. The last we saw of him — and we drove by to say hello almost daily — he had on a shamrock hat.
Then he was gone. The neighbors, by this time, knew of our obsession. They even started calling him Jeremy, too. When we saw them at the pool in June, we learned that Jeremy had to be taken in because he broke. Claire went on to tell the sad tale of broken Jeremy to everybody she saw for days.
Then, last week, Jeremy was back! Half of him, anyhow. He now sits down, but he remained the bony alpha of that yard. Score one for a child’s love. (Aside: Here’s a fascinating podcast episode about how Home Depot turned those huge skeletons into a pandemic-era craze.)
This may be why the email my colleague Micki Maynard received about the disappearance of Marilyn and Duane Kirking’s huge pumpkin blowup (pictured below in happier times) bugs me so much. Maynard wrote about their yard as a pre-smartphone “selfie spot” in this summer’s Observer City Guide because the blowup had been an Abbot neighborhood tradition going back decades. In other words, for generations of other kids, that was their Jeremy.
Last weekend, though, it was gone. Duane, bless his heart, told Maynard he thinks it was “borrowed” by fraternity pranksters. It seems odd they’d go that far out of their way when there’s so much easier pickings closer to campus, but these are the ghost stories we tell ourselves, right?
Duane is right when he wrote to Maynard, “With all the other troubles going on in this world, losing a long-time inflatable lawn decoration is a small thing, but it is certainly very disappointing.” Of course that’s true. But I’ve come to think of holiday decorations as a public service; it’s done to brighten neighborhoods and delight strangers’ kids. Stealing them is, well, uncivilized.
If you know where the Kirkings’ blowup is, tell us. We can’t easily fix a lot of things that are going wrong these days, but we can fix this!
Your news is here. No Kings was popular and peaceful except, perhaps, in Milan; there’s an election coming up; and the father of ECMO — which most of us never heard of until Covid — has died.
This was last week’s most-clicked link.
—Steve Friess, editor
P.S. You’ll be receiving a2view on Friday mornings from now on. Let us know what you think!
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Have you seen this pumpkin? Duane and Marilyn Kirking — and probably many children on their block in Abbot — want it back. Courtesy: Duane Kirking.
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Thousands demonstrated on Saturday across the county in the No Kings rallies to oppose Trump policies, including at Jackson Ave. and S. Maple Rd. in Ann Arbor. Credit: Sheila Bilby.
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Thousands peacefully say no to kings: Six communities in Washtenaw County saw marches on Saturday against Trump policies and actions, part of a national wave that reportedly drew a collective 7 million protesters. The Michigan Daily covered the biggest crowds, in Ann Arbor and Ypsi, as did MLive, which provided some video on YouTube, and the Sun Times News reported from Chelsea where congresswoman Debbie Dingell spoke to some 500 people. Michigan Public offered a roundup that includes Saline, too. The protesters’ complaints included alarm over ICE raids and military deployments in major cities, brutal cuts to research, and efforts to curtail and punish free speech. The events largely went off without controversy except…
In Milan, an armed guard prompts uproar: Rachelle McDaniel, owner of the tchotchkes shop Northern Chicks, had her son Trevor stand by the door in case the No Kings protest there turned violent. Complaints about his weapon’s visibility prompted local police to dispatch an officer on a motorcycle to keep tabs of the activity in the store’s vicinity. Three days later, McDaniel alleged at a city council meeting that protesters shouted, “Smash them, smash them” referring to the store windows. Others at the three-hour meeting questioned the claim, noting there’s no video or audio recording of that chant or any other violent rhetoric. “The idea that this was some terrifying, scary ordeal with playful unicorns bouncing in the streets is obviously absurd,” one speaker said. “The imaginary threats that no one heard didn’t happen.” The Washtenaw Republican Club sent an email blast insisting the shop is being attacked “all over social media,” but searches on Facebook, Instagram, and X found nothing at all about the matter. Two people wrote negative Google reviews of the store, saying the presence of the gun upset them; in response, Trevor apparently posted this five-star review.
Election pits taxes vs. vocational ed: The Washtenaw Intermediate School District and its allies are sharing stories about the life-altering impact of the career and technical education programs they want to expand if voters approve a dedicated 1 mill property tax. Opponents tell the Ann Arbor Observer another millage makes housing that’s already unaffordable even more expensive. If it passes, owners of a $400,000 home would pay an additional $200 a year. The election is Nov. 4.
Fraser’s with the Facebook KO: A viral post from the venerable pub on Packard slammed back at a negative Google review “describing things that simply didn’t happen” during the diner’s visit. According to the post, there were three reviews by the same patron (who removed two of them and toned down the one that remained, according to Fraser’s) that variously claimed a smartphone-obsessed hostess failed to greet him, the food took forty minutes, and that the fare was “overcooked, undercooked, and colder than the room.” Fraser’s says there is no hostess, their internal cameras show the food being served in eight minutes, and the description of the food would “bend the laws of thermodynamics.” According to the pub’s post, the diner also threw a pen at the server. It concludes: “Your final line, however, we completely agree with: ‘I wouldn’t come back. Ever.’ Perfect. We’re in total agreement there.”
A tale of two big gifts: Dorothy Gae Davis, who died in January at eighty-three, bequeathed $600,000 to the Frances Willson Thompson Library at U-M Flint where she worked for more than thirty years. Also announced this week, U-M engineering alum James Lu gave $10 million to create a fellowship program for as many as fifty-five doctoral students conducting “groundbreaking work in fields such as medicine, computing, artificial intelligence and space technology.” The fellowships will be named for Lu, co-founder of Joffre Capital.
Thirty U-M profs on Charlie Kirk’s “watchlist”: The list from the pro-Trump group Turning Point USA, which the Daily reports has gained new currency following Kirk’s assassination last month, includes law professor and former Obama-era federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, economist Betsy Stevenson, clinical social worker and city councilmember Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, and political science and communications prof Josh Pasek. In each case, the academic in question is criticized for “woke” or progressive statements. Pasek tells the Daily his alleged infraction involved “non-classroom activities that were based on data about what people thought … [the watchlist] was not actually trying to unmask potential circumstances of bias in the classroom, but instead trying to find anyone who disagreed with them in some public environment, and to try to use that as a way to make their political point.”
That $560K “oopsie” fixed: The money was awarded jointly to the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 190 and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 252 but was only intended for the plumbers, so council unanimously voted to remove IBEW. The error was one of the issues with the grant, which assists the union in training workers on geothermal technology; former councilmember Elizabeth Nelson says councilmember Jen Eyer should have abstained from voting on the matter because Eyer does public relations for the IBEW. Eyer was not at the meeting this week when the changes were made. Read more
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Courtesy: Lauren Slagter, U-M Poverty Solutions
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Guaranteed Income outcome in doubt: Lead researcher Kristin Seefeldt (pictured above) told council this summer that in its first year, the pilot program she oversaw that gave $528 a month to 100 low-income people for two years didn’t produce “any statistically significant difference between those getting the payment and those not getting the payment” in terms of food and housing insecurity.” After decades in poverty research and advocacy, Seefeldt tells Eve Silberman in this month’s Ann Arborite profile, her major conclusion “is that changes around the edges are going to produce no to very little changes in people’s day-to-day lives.” However, she continues to support guaranteed income programs, noting that they often show more positive effects the second year — and warns that if the new federal work requirements for welfare and food benefits “actually get implemented, it’s going to be a disaster on so many different levels.” She doubts the nonprofit world will have the capacity to respond at the level needed, “not even in a place like Ann Arbor.”
Our House provides mentors to troubled youth: Sandor Slomovits writes in this month’s Observer about the Ypsi nonprofit that focuses on helping kids who age out of the foster care system or are otherwise at risk. Executive director Natasha Motsinger views the program as indispensable: “If we stopped doing everything else, we would still focus on mentoring. It’s the number one protective factor that helps increase positive outcomes for our youth: having one trusted adult in their life.” The organization recently joined with Ozone House, the Corner Health Center, and the Washtenaw Housing Alliance to implement a federally funded two-year Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project (YHDP) aimed at preventing homelessness among young people.
Dear Ann Arbor: In Poet Tree Town, writer A. Shaikh ruminates about falling in love with the city.
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● “Miracle baby” Xander Zeh, pictured above with his parents and sister, goes home after spending his first 450 days at Mott Children’s Hospital. He has trisomy 18.
● This Daily op-ed, sarcastically suggesting U-M give Trump an honorary degree, is getting quite a bit of online traction.
● A2 author John U. Bacon has another bestseller on his hands. His Gales of November about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald debuted at No. 6 on the New York Times nonfiction list. (It’s at No. 15 in its second week.) Bacon talked about writing the book with the Observer’s Jan Schlain in this month’s issue.
● Lodi Twp. trustees narrowly advanced an upscale 107-home development from Toll Bros. The big hangup? Residents fear the impact of wastewater treatment plants that would discharge into a creek that feeds two nearby rivers. Read more
● Non-A2 county residents can now fill out this interest form to be considered for a pilot program to drop off household food waste in Ypsi. Read more
● Number of traffic stops by A2 cops for equipment issues since July: Zero. Read more
● U-M researchers land $13 million to study treatments for traumatic brain injury.
● The city’s new online portal offers a wide array of data and information from rainfall totals to a snowplow-tracking map to crime data to results of hotel safety checks. Explore it for yourself
● A U-M freshman survived a heart attack. A year later, he and the woman who saved him have become CPR evangelists. Watch this
● Related Digital will give $14 million to Saline Twp. and three local fire departments as part of a lawsuit settlement that will allow the company to build a controversial 2.2 million-square-foot data center, the Sun Times News reports.
● Trump promised his tariffs wouldn’t cause inflation. These local businesses say he was wrong.
● MLive offers a lovely profile of swimmer Josh Bunsis, a twenty-six-year-old with autism who is heading to the Special Olympics in June in Minnesota. He got his start through adaptive lessons provided by AAPS’s Rec & Ed when he was six.
● On NPR’s Science Friday, author Mary Roach talked about U-M’s Extracorporeal Life Support Laboratory while discussing her new book Replaceable You. Host Flora Lichtman interrupted her to say, “It’s a great name for a lab.” Agreed!
● Speaking of extracorporeal life support, Ann Arbor native Robert Bartlett, the “Father of ECMO” technology and a Michigan Medicine fixture for forty-five years, has died at eighty-six. He’s credited in this obituary with having saved at least 100,000 lives.
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Courtesy: Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming via Instagram
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Dog bakery and groomer opens: Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming started taking customers yesterday at its storefront on Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. in Pittsfield Twp., according to the shop’s Instagram. It’s the second of what is planned to be at least six Michigan locations for franchisees Victoria and Cameron MacKellar of Northville, where their first dog boutique and spa opened last December, Dave Algase writes in the Observer. Woof Gang, an Orlando-based brand, promotes itself as being “the national leader in personalized grooming, specialty baked treats, and healthy pet products.”
Brunch spot won’t take over Turkish Village: Twenty-four-year-old Basher Alasad tells MLive his plan to open Solana in the site on E. Liberty St. fell through. The restaurant was expected to replace Turkish Village Cafe, which closed in August after one month of operations. Alasad said “a few business dealings and legal contracts just didn’t make sense for us” financially so they dropped the plan.
Yemeni café comes to campus: Ghazi Alsafari, co-owner of Būn Chai, says he hopes a diverse array of U-M students from across the nation will give the increasingly popular (and strong!) coffee a try, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. Local residents have many opportunities to sample the style at cafés around the city, but for out-of-town students, Alsafari says, “This is their first taste of Yemeni coffee. It’s a good situation for us to kind of put our name on the map.”
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Stuff a truck for local military vets on Saturday: Two Men and a Truck Ann Arbor is collecting donations of canned and other nonperishable food items, hygiene products, and household cleaning items from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. outside the Kroger at 400 S. Maple Rd. The donations will go to Michigan Ability Partners, a nonprofit that supports veterans and individuals with disabilities.
EMU tailgate benefits Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels: For a $35 donation, Eagles fans at Rynearson Stadium on Saturday get a 50-yard-line ticket to the game against the Ohio Bobcats plus snacks and nonalcoholic drinks. The tailgate party runs from 10 a.m. to kickoff time at noon and includes games with Zingerman’s prize baskets. For more information or to buy tickets, click here.
Burlington gives $5K to Ypsi’s Estabrook Elementary: To mark the opening of the apparel chain’s newest store — on Carpenter Rd. in Pittsfield Twp. — the company gave the money to the school, WEMU reports. The money is intended for school supplies; principal Ryan Johnson says it may be spent on snacks, flexible seating, or art materials. Algase wrote about the new store in this month’s Observer.
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By Jennifer Taylor
Friday: Start your Halloween early at the Ypsilanti Cryptid Festival, which has screenings of short spooky films, presentations on paranormal topics, and Halloween-themed vendors. Also, after 7 p.m., live music by Fangs and Twang, an Ypsi trio that plays high-energy country rock, with songs about vampires and mummies. Costumes encouraged. 4 to 10 p.m., Ypsi Freighthouse. 100 Market. Free.
Saturday: Put on your fishnet stockings for the 1975 cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show, the film that spawned a long tradition of participatory showings. The U-M student troupe Leather Medusas mimes along. 9:30 p.m. Fri. and Sat. Michigan Theater. Tickets $13.25 in advance.
Sunday: Delight in the U-M Symphony Orchestra and the U-M Philharmonia Orchestra’s annual rowdy Halloween Concert, featuring the musicians hamming it up in costume while performing ghoulish works like Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre or Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. A large portion of the all-age audience comes in costume. 4 p.m., Hill Auditorium. Tickets $11 to $25 in advance online and at the door.
See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events.
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