Yesterday was production week! I’m excited about the new issue, and very proud of how it turned out. I was far too busy to go traipsing around Ann Arbor, but I did have one very excellent, very A2 experience:
On Friday, I was invited to speak at a LeadersConnect event, Leadership Lessons from Three Adventures. I shared the stage with two incredible people. Author and photographer Michael Samuelson found out at age 51 that he had breast cancer. His doctors told him, “Go home, rest, you’ve had a good life.” Instead, Michael climbed Mt. Everest. He’s 79 now, and he’s been mountaineering ever since. If you ever meet him, ask him to tell you the story about mountaineering in Alaska with his son and having to jump over the six-foot crevasse. It made me tear up.
Next up was Dr. Eric Fretz, who also defied his doctors’ wishes and teamed up with a childhood friend (and a dog) to do a truly epic road trip: one month, 12,000 miles, 11 states, 6 Canadian provinces, all culminating in a swim in the Arctic Ocean. If you ever meet him, ask him to tell you the story about the buffalo headbutt. Super funny, engaging guy.
And then it was me! I told some stories about learning to back-up a tractor-trailer, helping students apply to college when I was in the Peace Corps, hiking the Appalachian Trail, and the hyper-competitive process of being selected to be a lunchlady in Antarctica. The three lessons these experiences taught me:
- You have to trust your intuition.
- Use your power to lift other people up.
- Set a goal, figure out the steps, and follow them.
In the car on the way to the event, as I was nervously running through the presentation while my husband navigated I-94 traffic, I realized there was a fourth lesson — and a perfect ending for my presentation.
- The most interesting part of my travels isn’t the places I’ve been or the things I’ve done. It’s the people I’ve met and the stories they’ve shared. That’s a lesson that will serve me, and the Observer, and Ann Arbor, as I embark on this latest adventure.
It went well! There might be a video floating around somewhere, and if I find it, I’ll link to it. Afterward, Doug and I went to The Hen, where I celebrated with a supremely delicious breakfast burrito.
I’ll close with a story that didn’t happen in Ann Arbor, or even the real world! Yes, this is a story that took place over email. Here is the email I sent:
Sent: November 18, 6:05 a.m.
To: [The press liaison for the Michigan Theater]
I hope this finds you well. Brooke Black, editor in chief of the Ann Arbor Observer, at your service. I’m writing for kind of an odd reason:
We recently retired a small section of the magazine called Question Corner, where our readers could send in questions that didn’t warrant a full story, but that still deserved an explanation. But I got a question the other day, and I’d like to send an answer to the question asker. They want to know:
“Why did Marquee Arts discontinue their Tuesday matinees? Were they losing money on the matinees or just not making enough profit? Is Marquee Arts in serious financial difficulty?”
This isn’t for publication, just… me trying to be a good community member and let our reader know that I care about their question enough to find an answer for them.
And here is the response I got:
Received: November 18, 9:59 p.m.
From: [The CEO of Marquee Arts]
Thank you so much for reaching out and for taking the time to care about your reader’s question. I’m happy to offer clarity.
The decision to discontinue Tuesday and Wednesday matinees, was not taken lightly. We reviewed several years of historical attendance data, including pre-COVID numbers, and the trend was very clear: audiences for those screenings had become extremely small. At the same time, it takes an enormous amount of staffing, technical support, utilities, and operational resources to open the theaters, even for just a handful of attendees.
As a nonprofit, more than 40% of our annual operating budget is supported by charitable donations. While we’re grateful for that generosity, the current number of moviegoers simply can’t sustain the cost of running matinees for such a small group of people. To be responsible stewards of community resources and our historic venues, we had to make some thoughtful adjustments.
That said, these changes are not permanent in spirit. If audiences return for early-week matinees, we will wholeheartedly welcome the opportunity to reopen those time slots. Our goal is always to serve the community in ways that are both meaningful and sustainable.
Please let me know if there are additional questions related to your readers. I appreciate the opportunity to explain our decisions.
Best,
Molly
I share this virtual experience a) just in case you’re wondering what happened to Tuesday matinees, and b) because it made me proud that two leaders, who are both so busy with their jobs at venerable community institutions that they answer emails at 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., took some time out of their day to answer a person’s question without any promise of positive publicity. (I mean, I guess except for this blog?)
I can’t speak for Molly, but I suspect her motivation was the same as mine. We know that our community cares about us, and so we care very much about them. Without them, we have no reason to exist.