October 2026 Contributors

Dave Algase has reported on more than 400 local businesses since returning to community journalism in 2022 after a hiatus of twenty-eight years. The Kenyon College alumnus is also an independent information professional, a Jeopardy! champion, a devoted dad, and a fan of the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Browns.

Ally Choi grew up in San Francisco, but now calls Ann Arbor her second home. Korean-American identity, art, pop culture, family, faith, and grief are recurring threads in her writing. She is a recipient of a Hopwood and the U-M Residential College’s Emerging Writers Award. When she’s not writing for the Observer, you can find her making cheese, wading through the cascades, or supporting young writers throughout 826michigan’s Yspilanti and Ann Arbor programs. You can also find her work on Best of Korea and reach her on LinkedIn!

Annie Comperchio is an artist and photographer who lives in Leelanau County and coaches seasonally for Ann Arbor Rowing Club. Annie has been working as a photographer for 20 years, specializing in portraiture. She formerly put down roots in the agricultural side of food systems in Leelanau, growing produce for local chefs. During the summer months, you’ll find her on the Huron River alongside rowers. You can see her work at anniecomperchio.com or on Instagram @a.comperchio

Shelley Daily is a freelance writer who’s lived with her family on Ann Arbor’s west side for twenty-five years. A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, she’s fallen in love with Ann Arbor and its people, and especially enjoys writing profiles for the Observer. A favorite day for her is a hike at the Arb, a visit to the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and a bite to eat in a window seat at Old Town Tavern. You can find her work at writingbyshelley.com and you can reach her at [email protected].

Cam Finch is the founder of PoetTreeTown, a community poetry-in-public project in Washtenaw County. They are a manuscript editor, as well as a poet and prose writer, with a focus on ecology, queerness, the body, illness, language, liberation, as well as the surreal, the grotesque, and the liminal. Cam’s writing aligns with their dedication to community building, collective care, and mutual aid. Teaching generative and free writing workshops in community spaces is a way for them to share their passion for writing, learning, and art-making with others. They crave collaboration and gatherings of people for a more just and liberated world; it’s what fuels Cam daily. Visit Cam’s website at ccfinch.com or follow PoetTreeTown on Instagram at @PoetTreeTown_A2.

Jay Forstner created The Fake Ad more than thirty years ago while he was a staff writer at the Observer. He is the author of The Fake Ad Book and the upcoming children’s picture book, Jimmy Gerken: A Friend to All. He has a brilliant wife and three extraordinary grown children, but his proudest moment was the day he fixed a microwave oven.

Steve Friess is a veteran freelance journalist whose work appears regularly in The New York Times, Time, and many others (including the Observer). Friess was a 2011–12 Knight-Wallace fellow at the University of Michigan.

Anita LeBlanc is a longtime contributor to the Ann Arbor Observer, City Guide, and Community Guide. She has a unique ability to connect with people, which enhances the focus on the features, profiles, and community-oriented articles she writes. She has also worked for several decades as a self-employed copywriter, editor, and proofreader for local colleges, nonprofits, health care organizations, and authors.

Timothy Monger is a musician and writer living in Ypsilanti, Michigan. His music ranges in style from pastoral folk and chamber pop to harmony-driven indie rock. In addition to his work as a solo singer/songwriter, he is the bandleader of Timothy Monger State Park, cofounder of folk-rock cult heroes Great Lakes Myth Society, and curator of the experimental multimedia project Log Variations. He is also a freelance graphic designer, habitual runner, and intermittent birder.
As a pup, he worked at local record stores like Schoolkids’ and Encore, where hipster elders taught him about the Shaggs, Scott Walker, and Fairport Convention. A subsequent career writing about music was inevitable. As a Senior Content Editor at Xperi, Monger’s work can be read at AllMusic, Apple Music, Spotify, and other notable industry outlets. He also authors the blog (and Substack) Is This Something?, which compresses observations about creativity, work, and neighborhood minutiae into digestible weekly servings. His home on the internet is timothymonger.com.

Davi Napoleon is a theater historian and freelance writer. Although she specializes in the arts, she has written about a variety of subjects for local and national magazines and loves diving in and learning new things. She grew up in New York City and came to Ann Arbor to study at U-M. After doing her doctorate at NYU, she returned to the town she missed. She’s lived here for over 45 years and has contributed to the Observer for almost that long. You can read more about her here.

Drew Saunders used to be one of the kids who grew up in Whitmore Lake desperately looking for any excuse possible to go to Ann Arbor. Now an adult, Saunders is a business and environmental journalist with an M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Last year, he won an environmental journalism award from the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

John Tebeau started drawing as a kid in Muskegon and hasn’t stopped yet. Heavily influenced by Mad magazine, Wacky Packs, and R. Crumb, he copublished an alt-comics monthly paper in Chicago, designed and printed thousands of T-shirts in an old factory, and showed his original art and prints in Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, and New York. He wrote and illustrated the book Bars, Taverns, and Dives New Yorkers Love (Rizzoli), and after 20 years in NYC, he now lives the good life in Ann Arbor with his wife, The Lovely Colleen. See more of his work at tebeau.com, follow him on socials @johntebeau, or drop him a line at [email protected].

Michelle Yang is an advocate whose writings on the intersection of Asian American identity, body image, and mental health have been published in NBC News, CNN, InStyle, and Reader’s Digest. Michelle has also been featured on NPR, the Washington Post, and the Seattle Times for her advocacy. Phoenix Girl: How a Fat Asian with Bipolar Found Love, from Fifth Avenue Press, is her debut memoir. When not writing, Michelle loves exploring new parts of her new home state of Michigan with her family and smoking up the kitchen with spicy recipes. You can find her on michelleyangwriter.com or on Instagram @michelleyangwriter.