Well it’s been a minute! Let’s dive right, shall we?
Week of January 26
My esteemed colleague Steve Friess and I represented the Observer at the U-M LSA internship fair. We talked to several bright young journalists, and we’re looking forward to reading their applications soon!
Hot on the heels of that, I headed to Eagle Crest, which is in Ypsi, but it was for an open house about the high-performance computing center the U-M intends to build in Ypsi. I didn’t sign up for the event as a journalist, but I ended up doing some interviews and taking some notes. In no way does this meet the journalistic standards of the Observer — these are more my observations. But I’ll share them with you in case you’re interested.
I thought it was noteworthy that the first community meeting held in the community where the data center is being built occurred at the tail end of the two-year “Site selection & community engagement” period.
On January 29, from 5 to 7 p.m., the U-M held an open house at Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest. The University Record says that around 400 people came. Site selection and community engagement have been ongoing since 2024, but this event was the first time that a community open house had been held in Ypsilanti.
A group of four Ypsilanti Township residents expressed frustration and disappointment; one said she was “dissatisfied” with what felt like “a very performative meeting.”
“It’s not a meeting to involve the community,” said another. “It is a meeting where they got their marketing people to make these nice, slick posterboards about all these topics to talk at the community,” said another.
“I think it’s about being able to say they had a community meeting,” added a third.
And a fourth said she was “disappointed that U of M and DTE and everyone who is here to represent the knows the community doesn’t want it, knows it will have a negative environmental impact.”
But four members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers – two of whom live in Ypsilanti – had a different take.
“It’s in an industrial area already. The Ford plant’s been there. There’s nothing there. It’s tumbleweeds and trees over there now,” said one of them; he lives five minutes from the proposed site. “We gotta do what’s best for our members, and putting in the work is number one. This project will probably have 1,000 electricians on it.”
A researcher at U-M who works on extreme weather prediction described the event as “very respectful,” and said it had a lot more people than the previous event that was held in Ann Arbor.
“I thought there were some people who were very happy to hear more about the questions they had. And they felt heard. There are some people who say we should do much more. So I think it’s a mix. Our job is not to change minds, our job is to make sure people have questions and we answer them, and there’s better understanding.”
Week of February 2
I had a happy hour with Trianne and Tara and Abby! Trianne and Tara are also new to the area and in communications roles in venerable community organizations, so there was lots to talk about. We met up at Knight’s, where our assistant calendar editor Michael Bright moonlights, and he hooked me up. And our very patient waiter gave us more fries!
We asked so creatively, you see.
Week of February 9
Busy week!
On Monday, I had back-to-back meetings at CupsnChai. Krishnan, who went to school with my esteemed colleague Steve Friess, and who worked in hard news for his entire career, had some wisdom and ideas to share. And then I met up with Jeanne, who’s working on a really exciting project that I’m proud to have a teeny-tiny role in. Both conversations left me feeling inspired.
On Wednesday, it was A2Y Leadership Education Day! I learned about ISDs (they were formed in 1962 in response to a massive statewide school consolidation effort, from one-room schoolhouses to consolidated schools), schools of choice (2,066 students chose to enter Ann Arbor and 3,100 are enrolled elsewhere; in Ypsi, those numbers are 365 and 4680 — 1,049 of whom go to Ann Arbor), and that Washtenaw has 6,407 students with disabilities (that’s 1 in 7). Like all the A2Y Leadership programming I’ve been a part of, it was enlightening.
On Thursday, I met Darren and Liz at Union Rec — which was the cover of our February issue! I highly recommend the agua fresca.
And on Friday and Saturday, I attended the Farm Stop Conference, hosted by Argus Farm Stop and held at Washtenaw Community College. It left me with lots of questions: where are groceries cheapest in the Ann Arbor area? How do farm stops, farmers markets, and CSAs compare? What’s the economic impact of local food in Washtenaw County, versus non-local food? It’s my hope that we can answer some of those questions in a future issue of the Observer!
Stacey Abrams spoke on Saturday, and it was inspiring. “Information is not the same thing as knowledge,” she said. Here are some more nuggets of paraphrased wisdom:
- To create change, you don’t need everyone to believe what you believe. It’s enough to just get people to do what you need. Demonstrate utility, and then comes the support.
- People won’t fight for lost causes. They fight for what’s possible.
- DEI is in the DNA of America. It’s not a PowerPoint or a tagline to get people to buy t-shirts.
I also learned about SNAP benefits in Michigan. Nuggets of knowledge:
- 36% of beneficiaries are older adults
- 43% have young children in their household
- 51% have a person with a disability in their household
- 78% have earned income
- The average benefit is $175 per month
Week of February 16
Also a busy week, but with production, not delightful Ann Arbor adventures. I’m very proud of the March issue and I hope you like it!
Week of February 23
Tuesday was Coffee With Brooke at Two Songs Bakery & Café. Three community members stopped by, and two of my contributors. Carolyn and Joe are concerned about changes downtown, and the forces that are shaping Ann Arbor. Will changes in development support the downtown community, or exacerbate the city’s housing issues? And another fellow named Joe came by and told me a story of a time he wrote a letter to the editor that ended up starting a movement — and led to the creation of the Argo Cascades.
On Wednesday, I was given a tour of Downtown Home & Garden by none other than Mark Hodesh. It was a friendly meeting, nothing journalistic, but I took notes all the same. He showed me a barrel from the 1950s that still gets used, a Toledo scale that weighed birdseed and babies, a “come-hither fence,” architecture that he described as an “inverted suspension bridge,” a 130-year-old Michigan maple floor. He told me the story of how he came to own the building, thanks to Emma Hertler’s observation that “He’s a good boy. He gets up early.”
Recommended Reading: Inventing the Fleetwood
I did some work at Sweetwaters for an hour before heading to the Destination Ann Arbor annual meeting, which they held at The Ark. So many big plans for the year ahead! I talked to Ashley Hall, who’s running for County Commissioner, and some folks who had an idea for a story about cleaning litter off Ann Arbor’s streets, and Chloe from Creative Washtenaw, and Barbara from A2Y, and Jeffrey and Chris from the Michigan Raptors. (You can read more about the Raptors in the April issue of the Observer!)
Thursday, I had a business lunch at Zingerman’s Roadhouse — the remodel looks so good.
And today, Saturday, I had a tour of the Michigan Flight Museum from Tom, who I met while eating soup at Le Dog. The museum is in Van Buren Township, but the history it preserves is integral to the character of this area. It’s hard not to feel a swell of pride when I learn about Rosies.
Recommended Reading: Claire Dahl