On Sunday night, I was riding an Amtrak train from Chicago to Ann Arbor that struck and killed a person in Jackson shortly before midnight. A bit earlier, closer to Kalamazoo, the train had stopped abruptly between stations for...
Read MoreThe swarms of maize-clad football fans weren’t the only ones stopping traffic around Michigan Stadium after the U-M’s win over Western Michigan in September. Ann Arbor’s most notorious photographer, Harvey...
Read MoreWhen the Pioneer girls’ swimming team won the national championship in 2006, Speedo outfitted the team with high-tech LZR (“laser”) suits and has sold them to subsequent team recruits at deep discounts. But as...
Read MoreWhen a pet dies, most people hold a brief service and bury it in the backyard. But when local haute couture designer Rebecca Lambers had to put down her rooster, Taver Ishima, she turned him into high fashion.Taver had attacked...
Read MoreSuellyn Scarnecchia may never be more famous than she was on August 3, 1993, when a photograph of her carrying “Baby Jessica” appeared in newspapers around the world. Today the U-M’s general counsel and...
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On a warm, sunny autumn afternoon, a gala university homecoming parade slowly made its way along streets lined with cheerful spectators, following a twisty two-mile course through downtown. Stretching almost half a mile, the...
Read More“You can’t beat finishing in the Big House,” says Andrea Highfield. Highfield organized the inaugural Big House Big Heart race two years ago, inspired by the death of her husband Michael’s law partner and...
Read More“The post-modern pineapple,” writes Alice Ralph, identifying September’s I Spy photo, “tops the building for Liberty Title at 111 North Main.” Adds Siri Gottlieb: “It may have been installed...
Read More“Sturgeon, gar, Borwe bass…er, I know my fish better than that! And maybe the ‘Cash for Lunkers’ ad wouldn’t have been so easy to spot on page 30, if we actually could walk along Allen Creek Drive...
Read MoreGermans have long enjoyed and venerated alcohol. When the Irish missionary Columbanus first encountered Germans in the early seventh century, he happened on a ritual sacrifice of beer. Even after the Germans became Christians,...
Read More“This is a nice area compared to Detroit,” says John Andrew Gonzales, Jr., sitting on his crumpled sleeping bag in the parking lot of 200 South Ashley, a few blocks from the Delonis Center homeless shelter....
Read MoreThe reborn Full Moon Restaurant and Saloon on Main Street may become a magnet for cash-strapped nonprofits, now that it’s hosting charity poker nights. Texas Hold ‘Em earned money for Huron High athletic boosters in...
Read More“It’s something that’s always on my mind,” says Robin Ashlock.Ashlock, owner of Peaceable Pets, a dog-walking and dog-sitting service, keeps an eye out for dogs that might menace or attack dogs...
Read MoreLast year’s hiring of Rich Rodriguez triggered a sort of hysteria among Michigan football fans. The change from the forty-year reign of Bo Schembechler and his heirs to a new regime with no ties to Wolverine tradition...
Read More“I Spy answer: the corner of the Arthur Miller Theatre 1226 Murfin Dr.,” emailed U-M theater professor Christianne Myers, identifying August’s image. Barbara Bushkuhl, who drives by the theater frequently,...
Read MoreJason Frenzel believes there’s a naturalist in each of us just waiting to come out. As the volunteer and outreach coordinator for the city’s Natural Area Preservation (NAP) program—which aims to protect and restore...
Read MoreThe procession in the Botsford Recreation- al Preserve in Scio Township reminds me of fifth-grade school hikes. But instead of youthful explorers on a field trip, the partici- pants in this summer solstice celebration are mostly...
Read MoreThe corrugated cardboard boxes, heavily coated in wax and a dusting of dirt, look a bit tired and well used. Yet to the crowd gathering behind the Farmers’ Market stall, their highly anticipated appearance in late May or...
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