Hoot Night, 1973
When my brother Laz and I moved from Rochester, New York, to Ann Arbor in July 1973, we knew only...
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My Town
The Case of the Stolen Meteorite
For most of my thirty-one-year career with the FBI, I was assigned to the Ann Arbor office—what...
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Kitten Season
In my not-limited experience, when you take your kids to Tiny Lions, no matter how many pep talks,...
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Bed Bath & Beyond: An Epilogue
Last month’s Observer included my illustrated article about a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond, where...
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Postcards from the Past
It was 1944, and my father had just arrived for Army duty in Hawaii. An attorney by trade, he was...
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A Crop of Mailboxes
For a couple of years in the early 1970s, I shared a small two-story house on Warner Rd., a dirt...
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Doing the Drop
As the Observer went to press, the U-M football program looked well positioned in its perennial...
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712 N. Main St.
In 1952, after our parents’ divorce, my infant sister, Bonnie, and I went to live with my Uncle...
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Vernon Jensen’s Long Walk
“Someone should make a movie about Vernon Jensen’s war experiences!” declares Denise Frost. Frost...
Read MoreA Sukkot Miracle
I came across my breast cancer goody bag the other day. The surgeon’s scheduler gave it to me five years ago, after we reviewed the pre-op paperwork. You may wonder: “What goes into a breast cancer goody bag?” It’s kind of like,...
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Full Circle
One evening last September, my eight-year-old son and I stumbled into the rustic backyard of...
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A Beautiful Day for a Bike Ride
Ed Erickson’s profile on the Strava fitness app is a love letter to cycling. He posted road-bike...
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Ivorybills and Iggy Pop
It is not often that Iggy Pop, Pete Seeger, and the ivory-billed woodpecker can all be considered...
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Playing with the Brain Plasticity Ukulele Collective
As I walked the streets of Ann Arbor after moving to town twelve years ago, I breathed in all the...
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Stop the Chatter!
When frustrated with an immovable bureaucrat or customer service rep, some people may cuss, pray,...
Read MoreA Week Before Chinese New Year
On our way to see the haircut aunties a week before Chinese New Year, we run into our little friend Miss Hu (who the kids say should go to medical school so that she can become Doctor Hu). We take a picture together and tell her...
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Broader Strokes
When my daughter went off to college, I made a list of things I would do to fill in the gaps left...
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Jimmy Hoffa at the Law Quad
I met Jimmy Hoffa in April 1960 when he spoke to students at the University of Michigan Law...
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