PEDs, Bo, and Me
In reading recent accounts of state-sponsored use of performance enhancing drugs, primarily by Russia, I was struck by how quickly it was decided that the FBI would open an investigation. There hasn’t always been a keen...
Read MoreMy Town
Magical World
My journey with my teenage son to the U-M Biological Station began in an unlikely place: Jazzercise. That’s where I met a friendly lady named Carol. I often chatted with her after class, and one day she mentioned that her...
Read MoreWhat’s Happening at 215 Beakes?
A 4,600-square-foot single-family house is going up at 215 Beakes, where a collision shop–built before Ann Arbor had a zoning ordinance–long stood. The adjacent houses are modest: 946 square feet at 213 Beakes and...
Read MoreMayhem on Main St.
For thirty-four years, our office has looked out on the corner of Main and Huron. Over the years, we have seen some great stuff: Geoffrey Fieger news conferences; post-courtroom screaming matches; cops chasing robbers;...
Read MoreLoss and Living On
I have just finished a program of WWII remembrances at a local women’s club when Luragay Olsen–known to all as “Gig”–touches my shoulder. “My first husband was a fighter pilot. He was shot...
Read MoreThe Whizbang Chicken Plucker
If you’re going to raise ninety-six chickens in a small-scale operation for the fryer, you better raise the bar on how you’re going to get them ready for the kitchen. Even though the garden-variety domestic chicken...
Read MoreMy Town No More
Growing up, I never knew much about Ann Arbor besides the obvious: Hill Auditorium and the Big House. My friends played an annual band concert at Hill, and I got peeks of the stadium while my dad yelled at the television during...
Read MoreRite of Spring
All winter long, families find refuge from the gloom at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, where, for a short time, they can imagine themselves taking a tropical mini-vacation. “I can see an almost instant transformation when...
Read MoreTime Capsule on E. Liberty
For more than sixty years, the Christian Science Reading Room, on the ground floor of an old house at 306 E. Liberty, has been a quiet oasis downtown. As its surroundings grow denser, taller, and busier, the contrast between the...
Read MorePoetic Advice
The party guests talked about climate change, fracking, Syria, and Iran. “I called my representative and senator to thank them for voting against Keystone,” a woman told me–then asked me how many more...
Read MoreJimmy Smith, 1952-2016
One November afternoon in 2014, I ran into Jimmy Smith at the Stadium branch of Bank of Ann Arbor. He was kidding around with the tellers, putting some kind of gizmo on the counter, pressing a button so that it suddenly barked....
Read MoreThe Lustron Life
It’s the first thing visitors ask: “What’s it like during a thunderstorm? The lightning! Will you get fried in here?””Here” is my all-steel Lustron home. There’s not an ounce of the...
Read MoreEggs Over Easy
Eggs over easy, plate of hash brownsTake my hand momma, we’re goin’ to townOh what a wonderful thing to doEggs over easy, hash browns, and youIt was the late Seventies, a spring day. I was free, happy, and hungry. I...
Read MoreThe Perfect Tree
Early on Black Friday morning, my family embarks on our annual pilgrimage to the woods, not the malls. Dressed in our oldest cold-weather clothes and boots, we wedge ourselves into the car with our kids, our dog, my parents, and...
Read MoreSanta’s Helper
Every holiday season, for at least a few hours, I volunteer to ring the bell for one of the Salvation Army’s red kettles.I do so because just before Thanksgiving in 1987, I was part of an FBI SWAT team called to Atlanta to...
Read MoreThe Whistle-Pig Conundrum
Whistle-pigs seem like such unassuming, innocuous animals to threaten my environmental bona fides. My husband noticed the pair of groundhogs, each about a foot-and-a-half long by half-a-foot wide, as they ambled across our...
Read MoreMy Killjoy Liver
Ann Arbor is where I started and stopped drinking. Well, OK, there was a pleasant but junior varsity introduction to the alcoholic arts in college in the early Eighties before I got here, but, once I got situated within its...
Read MoreGrowing Up with Ballet
Ours is a transient town. Students come and graduate; leases are signed and shredded. I imagine we could all write a love letter to one address or another. Not only for the person once inside but to the walls and floor and the...
Read MoreI Was the Dope
Shortly after I became the arts and entertainment editor of the Ann Arbor News in September 1983, Brian Malone, then the paper’s editor, came to me and said, “Of course, you’ll continue to do Dump the...
Read MoreUpcoming Events
- June 25, 2026 “Sounds & Sights on Thursday Nights”: Chelsea Area Festivals & Events 6:30 pm
- June 25, 2026 Comedy Bingo 7:15 pm
- June 25, 2026 Pub Quiz: Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub 7:30 pm
- June 25, 2026 “Emma’s Wedding(s)”: Purple Rose Theatre Company 7:30 pm
- June 25, 2026 Live Trivia: Bløm Mead + Cider 8:00 pm