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Words With Friends

Words With Friends

Aug 26, 2026 | , , , |

Results from the 2025 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) show that 60 percent of Washtenaw County’s third-graders categorized as economically disadvantaged—including those who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, whose families receive food aid, and foster children, among other categories—scored in the lowest level for English Language Arts, compared with 26 percent of all students. Narrowing such disparities requires interventions with individual students that schools may not be equipped to handle on their own.

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Everyone Is Invited

Everyone Is Invited

Aug 10, 2026 | , , |

Pioneer Theatre Guild’s reimagined Hamlet embodies exactly the type of theater program Quinn Strassel wants for students: “Theater is better when everyone is invited to the table.” And in Ann Arbor Public Schools, high school students have an open invitation.

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If These Glasses Could Talk

If These Glasses Could Talk

Aug 10, 2026 | , |

Cocktails can seem simple—in a gin and tonic, the name is also the ingredients and the recipe—or exceedingly complex (fat washing, anyone?). But all across Ann Arbor, regardless of what a menu tells you about a drink, there’s a secret ingredient to most of the greats you won’t see listed. 

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Ann Arbor’s Reading Challenge

Ann Arbor’s Reading Challenge

Jul 24, 2026 | , , |

Standardized test scores show that many Ann Arbor–area kids are struggling with reading proficiency. According to results released last year from the 2024–25 Michigan Student Test of Education Progress, only 56 percent of AAPS third-graders met or exceeded proficiency standards in English Language Arts. On a key national study known as the Nation’s Report Card, Michigan was ranked forty-fourth in the U.S. for fourth-grade reading in 2024—dropping eight places since 2019.

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Fifty Years of Observing Ann Arbor

Fifty Years of Observing Ann Arbor

Jun 24, 2026 | , |

When we were reflecting on how to report on our fiftieth anniversary, we decided to turn the mirror to our audience, and ask how the Observer has impacted them beyond staying up on what’s happening in our corner of the world. We were delighted to hear not just from readers, but also advertisers, former employees, and past and present contributors. It was a powerful reminder of how tightly the Observer is knit into this community. Here now are some of the stories they shared. Some are surprising, some are funny, some gave us goosebumps, and you might want to get the tissues, just in case.

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Meeting Points

Meeting Points

Jun 24, 2026 | , , |

We spoke with three painters, one from each fair, whose work engages with “intersections,” a concept that encompasses much of what the fairs are all about: exploring points of connection and embracing individuality and commonality at once.

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Our Intersecting Lives

Our Intersecting Lives

Apr 24, 2026 | , , |

We present to you five strangers who all either live or work in Ann Arbor. Although they don’t know each other, they’re all connected in the little ways that make a community: frequenting the same spots, walking the same sidewalks, common heritage, similar interests and motivations.

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All the Lonely People

All the Lonely People

Apr 24, 2026 | , , , |

People experience loneliness when “perceptions of their social relationships don’t match what they would ideally like them to be. Not everyone who feels lonely is truly alone and not everyone who is socially isolated feels lonely,” says University of Michigan social epidemiologist Lindsay Kobayashi. The importance of third places—low-cost or free community spaces like parks, coffee shops, and libraries where people can find connection outside of home (a first place) and work (a second place)—is becoming a more popular topic in public health research.

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Out of Class

Out of Class

Mar 25, 2026 | , , |

Huron has one of Michigan’s highest chronic absenteeism rates: 68.6 percent of its students in the 2024–25 school year—more than two-thirds—missed at least 10 percent, or eighteen days, of class. Ann Arbor Public Schools’ other two traditional high schools aren’t much better: Pioneer’s rate was 63.7 percent, and Skyline’s was 61.6 percent. (Chronic absenteeism rates include excused and unexcused absences, but neither AAPS nor the state collects data on how many of each are occurring.)

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Menopause Matters

Menopause Matters

Feb 24, 2026 | , , , |

Menopause and the menopause transition “remains one of the most overlooked and underserved areas in medicine,” according to the Menopause Society, a nonprofit focused on educating health care professionals.

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Build Up

Build Up

Jan 27, 2026 | , , |

A dispirited Praveena Ramaswami sits behind her steering wheel offering, yet again, her arguments against the placement of the new Thurston Elementary School. It required the destruction of key ecological features of the beloved Thurston Nature Center (TNC); it’s being built on soft peat; it all happened without adequate notice to, input from, or consideration of the neighborhood.

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Weathering ICE

Weathering ICE

Jan 27, 2026 | , , , |

“You see vehicles that look suspicious with dark windows and [when] you look inside you see [people] in bullet-proof vests and you know, it’s them: its ICE,” says a community advocate who wishes to remain anonymous. “It’s happening in our lovely county. It’s here.”

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