Sports Shrink
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...
Read More2013 September
Elevation Burger Arrives
Mike Tayter wanted to come back to Michigan and start his own business. He and wife, Sarah, were both raised in Michigan–she in Kalamazoo, with a Presbyterian minister mother and Jewish pediatrician father (to thoroughly...
Read MoreOpening the Vault
“We get the keys September 6, and we’ve got twelve days to set everything up to open in time for the opening of ArtPrize on the eighteenth,” says Steve Fodale, co-owner of the Vault of Midnight comic book...
Read MoreLillie Park Boardwalk
Q. I have two questions for you: 1) The boardwalk in Lillie Park on Ellsworth was submerged under water for a couple of years. But this year it is out of the water and usable once again. What happened?A. Turtle Pond has no...
Read MoreMisty Lyn & the Big Beautiful
A song about a former lover, loneliness. A song about a two-timing lover. A song about lovers who cling to each other while autumn heaves around them. Love as sin, love as loss of self, love as waiting. These heartaches and...
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Herb David’s Is Dancing Dog
“I feel like we went on a blind date and a few months later, we’re having a baby,” says Sue Finley, who is a photographer and mixed media artist, but she’s not bad with a simile either. She’s...
Read MoreCurrying Flavor
“We’ll bring lunch with us,” I had told my mom. Always happy to eat a meal she doesn’t have to cook herself, she didn’t ask what my husband and I were planning to pick up. Her dismay, though, when...
Read MoreDouglas Trevor
Walt Steadman, the protagonist of Douglas Trevor’s first novel, Girls I Know, is a character many in Ann Arbor will recognize: an “all but dissertation” PhD candidate at Harvard who has given up on ever...
Read MoreMattress World closes
Mattress World on Washtenaw across from Arborland is having a closeout sale. All Mattress World stores–Art Van bought all thirty-one of them in 2010–are getting rebranded as Art Van Sleep Centers, says Diane Charles,...
Read MoreGinger Deli
“Everything is a mess,” Te Phan apologizes, picking his way around large hulks of brand-new restaurant equipment. Though he has no opening date yet for Ginger Deli, it’s clear he has made a major commitment.The...
Read MoreSihem’s Tunisian Deli Closes
Sihem Naghmouchi Benaich has closed her deli, which shared space with Taco King on W. Liberty. The Tunisian deli, named Sihem’s, was expensive to operate, and she decided the concept sat too uneasily alongside the...
Read MoreMallek’s Service
A young woman pulls her car up to one of the four pumps at the Mallek’s service station in the vee where Huron splits into Dexter and Jackson. Holding her credit card, she looks searchingly at the pumps, then asks a fellow...
Read MoreBook Shock
Shorter print runs mean big cuts for Edwards Brothers Malloy. A year after the two venerable local printers merged, the company announced that it will sell Edwards Brothers’ sixteen-acre State St. property and consolidate...
Read MoreA Room of Its Own
“We never even used the word ‘vegan’ until last year. If people would ask, we’d tell them, but we thought it would deter people if we splashed ‘vegan’ across the cart,” says Phillis...
Read MoreAngell Hall Observatory
“I spy Angell Hall Observatory!” asserts Victoria Devulder. August’s “picture shows the dome,” notes Ivana Mrazova. “It’s not commonly visible from ground level,” points out Dean...
Read MoreShaker State Quick Oil Change
We received nearly 200 entries correctly identifying the Fake Ad for Shaker State Quick Oil Change on page 58 of the August issue. Not suprisingly, our nemesis Dean McLaughlin was quick to provide a reason for the plethora of...
Read MoreMy Name Is Asher Lev
In the last few seasons at the Performance Network Theatre, artistic director David Wolber has invited audiences to peek behind the canvas at artists in society. There was A Picasso, in which Nazis want to burn one of the...
Read MoreBlimpy Burger Closes
By now, Blimpy Burger on Division is closed, but Rich Magner promises it will be back: “We’ve ended our first sixty years, and when we reopen, it will hopefully be the start of our second sixty years,” says...
Read MoreA Fresh Start
Daniel Sellers’ severe bipolar disease and depression may not be as “in your face” as the Masonic tattoo in the middle of his forehead, but his mental illness has left an equally indelible mark. His violent...
Read MoreProject Grow
Ann Arbor is home to the longest-standing community garden in the country. Project Grow (Community Services, Environment) started with a few dozen gardeners at a handful of sites. Now, says part-time managing director Kirk...
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