Profiles

Dan Saferstein knows how important sports are to a lot of Ann Arbor kids–and to their families. “In this city, parents have high expectations,” he says. “College [athletic] scholarships become kind of a...

Bemoaning the decline of the city’s live music scene has been a favorite pastime for music-loving Ann Arborites for at least a generation, going back to the demise of legendary nightspots like Joe’s Star Lounge, Mr....

Nine-year-old Alden Rohwer loves to sing. “He sings all day long, on car trips—­everywhere!” says his mother, Aileen. She says since joining the Boychoir of Ann Arbor about a year ago, Alden’s been inspired not...

It’s with a feeling of awe and gratefulness that I’m looking at my first prairie dock, a tall wildflower that could pass for a sunflower’s skinny sibling. Prior to this, I had only encountered prairie dock...

It’s been said that getting sober is easy; staying sober is the hard part. Dawn Farm and the Home of New Vision (see Substance Abuse Support Groups) offer their newly sober clients a way to increase their odds for...

It’s no surprise that Michigan ranks third nationally in the number of disc golf courses. Compared to conventional courses, disc golf—where players toss Frisbees and other flying discs into basket-like goals—is easy on...

The Huron River bisects Ann Arbor with a winding swath of beautiful ponds and flowing water. Its steep bluffs and rich floodplains are protected by a patchwork of parks that comprise more than 1,000 acres of open water, forested...

Brandan Montgomery did very well at the public high school he attended in Washtenaw County. Too well for the effort he put into it, he says. He didn’t study, slept through classes, and still received As on tests....

The 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...

It’s a Saturday morning in the Ann Arbor YMCA gym, and the basketball courts are filled—but not with sweaty guys playing a pickup game. On this day, females from age seven to their seventies are playing in the Y’s...

The 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...