In 1965, Esther and Ben Rubin moved into a new four-bedroom townhouse off Platt south of Packard. What would eventually be the 427-unit Colonial Square Cooperative was still being built, but as a blended family with four...
Read MoreIn late September, a historic Ann Arbor building went up for sale. The listing highlighted the Alonzo Palmer House’s “beautiful details,” including original woodwork from the 1860s. What it didn’t mention...
Read MoreWhen you’re stuck in a town longer than you had expected, food can turn a hardship into a pleasure. In January, my husband and I were traveling in Lebanon when the government collapsed. A new coalition formed, but...
Read More“We’ve made great strides,” says John Petz.Last June 1, Petz became the first board chair of the combined Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti Regional Chamber. In recent years, the neighboring chambers of commerce had seen...
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The annual concerts of Indonesian music and dance mounted by the U-M Center for Southeast Asian Studies are a local resource of rare value, and townies are starting to catch on: offered for free in Hill Auditorium, the concerts...
Read More“It was vacant, and they’d rather make money than not make money. I said, ‘I’m a student and I’d like to try this out,'” says twenty-year-old Samantha Elias, co-owner with her twin sister,...
Read More“I’ll pay you back tomorrow.”She was standing on Detroit St. one evening after work, trying to get someone to stop to talk to her. “I’m locked out of my car,” she told me....
Read MoreA recent afternoon snowstorm led to a very quiet day at the Lowe’s home improvement store on Jackson Road. So quiet that two women running checkouts were able to spend a few minutes chatting. As a lone customer approached,...
Read MoreAt the start of Marie Losier’s film The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, there’s a black-and-white image of a blonde with big eyes wearing a white nightgown, flapping her arms and making chicken gestures. I think she...
Read MoreWhen the Washtenaw Mini Mart at Arborland closed last year, Jeff Lenard of the National Association of Convenience Stores explained why more gasoline stations are closing than opening (Marketplace Changes, March 2010). In short,...
Read MoreFor anyone who reads poetry, there are always poets who become important only after one learns how to read them. Rae Armantrout is one of those for me. When I started reading her almost thirty years ago, I associated her with a...
Read MoreGenerally, I’m not fond of buffets. Food loses its freshness, and the choices are the kitchen’s rather than my own. But judging by the crowd at Temptations’ lunch buffet, mine is a minority opinion. Indians,...
Read More“I have a pretty good sense of outrage,” says attorney Jean Ledwith King.King was one of just ten women to graduate from the U-M Law School in 1968 and, at forty-five, probably the oldest in her class. Just two years...
Read MoreBrian Bondy bought Huron Scuba from Dave and Rachael Kaspar last July first. The first week of August, the United States government essentially told him, Not so fast, mister.Bondy and his wife, Marketa, discovered scuba diving...
Read MoreOn a cold February evening at the Michigan Theater, Rip Esselstyn wore a college jersey that said “KALE” (in the “YALE” font) across his chest. The former Austin, Texas, firefighter was in town to promote...
Read MoreYou don’t go to Tractor Supply Co. to buy a tractor any more than you go to Home Depot to buy a home. That’s kind of a “duh” in the rural communities in forty-four states where the company’s 940...
Read MoreWhat are you writing about next?Brunch.Oooo, I love going out to brunch!What restaurants do you go to most?Hmmm, lemme think a minute … I guess actually I haven’t gone in a while. Um, we used to go to …After...
Read More“I’m in full ‘punt’ mode,” U-M conductor Jerry Blackstone emailed in February. For more than five months, Blackstone had been rehearsing the Choral Union for a pair of March performances of...
Read MoreWhat with Valentine’s Day, post-holiday recovery, and the first hints of a spring thaw, love is truly in the air in February. No surprise, then, that 231 Fake Adders loved last month’s Fake Ad for the American Board...
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