2011 January

Campbell McGrath

American artists of all kinds have attempted from time to time to take on the whole sprawl of the continent and our national history upon it. It is surprising that more have not tried to work with the Lewis and Clark Expedition,...

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Jazzy Veggie

On Main Street, less than a block away from Frita Batidos, another casual sandwich spot has taken pretty much the opposite tack. Where Frita Batidos proudly uses lard even in the bread, Jazzy Veggie is equally proudly serving...

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Borer Blessing?

Until now, no one in the city has had anything good to say about the emerald ash borer infestation.The Japanese beetle, named for its color and diet, invaded Michigan in 2002. In Ann Arbor alone, it has killed 22,000 ash trees,...

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Pungent

I come from a family interested in all things edible, but for my parents, particularly my father, limits do exist. A visit to a Korean restaurant, then, looked like a challenge. After all, the distinguishing characteristic of...

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Crime and Overtime

When Jerry Clayton became the new county sheriff two years ago, the board of commissioners told him to cut the department’s $38 million budget by half a million dollars in his first year in office. That seemed like a lot...

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Chelsea Antique Mall Rolls In

Ed GreenLeaf Jr. says he never imagined he would be selling antiques in the space adjacent to Chelsea Lanes bowling center–a community fixture GreenLeaf opened in 1962. But when Aberdeen Bike & Fitness moved to a new...

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Dialogistics

“Your contest is so clever,” wrote Amy Saalberg. “It effectively gets us to look closely at every single ad each month! This [Fake Ad] grabbed our attention by its extreme vagueness!”True, the ad was...

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Robert Plant & the Band of Joy

Once upon a time, Robert Plant was the living incarnation of great god Dionysus, and he and his fellow gods of the holy quartet Led Zeppelin delivered Bacchic revels and priapic ecstasies to their followers in the bleak epoch of...

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Ann Arborite Katherine Willson

When Katherine Willson recently told her husband she’d taken a job working for the military, he joked, “I better call the Department of Defense and tell them they’ve been infiltrated!”Willson,...

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That Fifth Ave. Detour

Commuters, downtown residents, and bus riders have been seeing more of downtown since August, when construction of the library lot parking structure shut down Fifth Avenue, the city’s main southbound artery. Drivers...

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Showdown at City Place

Local developer Alex de Parry has been seeking permission to build a big new apartment complex on Fifth Avenue south of the library for five years. First he proposed tearing down the seven houses there now, all more than a...

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The Simpson Memorial Institute

“That’s the I Spy, that’s the I Spy!” exclaimed Matthew DeBona, pointing out the car window at the Simpson Memorial Institute on Observatory at East Ann. Matthew is “our resident Mr. I Spy,”...

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Downtown’s New Frontier

As if Ann Arbor had collectively cried, “We want cheap food, but enough with the burgers already,” three new downtown restaurants opened within a few weeks of each other. All are casual spots featuring sandwiches,...

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182 Days

Governor-elect Rick Snyder spent the evening of November 2 celebrating his victory with his wife, Sue, their three children, and supporters at a downtown Detroit hotel ballroom. The next morning, he headed to Lansing to start a...

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The Semanskes Come Home

Olde Tyme Pizza opened at the end of August in the space formerly occupied by Jet’s Pizza in the Parkside Plaza strip mall on W. Michigan (Jet’s moved up the street earlier this year to the Oaks shopping mall). Olde...

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Local Spirits

Ugly Dog Distillery makes and sells vodka under the same roof. “The idea was conceived at hunting camp with my German wirehaired pointer on my lap,” says co-owner Jon Dyer.Dyer, forty-seven, a Stockbridge resident...

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All Aboard!

While you’re waiting futilely for the next trolley at the old interurban railway station on Jackson Road, you can enjoy fresh peaches, admire blown glass artwork, or even buy some mulch. Wackenhut Gartens sells all...

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Handyman Heaven

After thirty years in manufacturing, most recently as an executive for Molded Materials in Saline, Jim Junga was ready for a change but not ready to retire. After all, he and his wife, Diane, aren’t quite finished raising...

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Brain Gain

Students at Bates Elementary School in Dexter aren’t sitting still in their classrooms–and that’s just fine with their teachers and principal. The K-2 school is using Brain Gym–a program funded through a...

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Becalmed

Plans for a commercial wind farm to generate electricity in western Washtenaw County have been scuttled due to a lack of wind.To make sense economically, utility-scale wind farms need at least thirteen-miles-per-hour average...

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