New Media Watch Section

Russ Collins, executive director of the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, has been named to Indiewire’s 2013 inaugural list of “influencers” in the independent film industry. Collins has led Art House Convergence, an annual conference of art house owners, for six years. From an Indiewire interview with Collins: “Coming together for movies in a social context happens because we’re social creatures. It’s a profound psychological experience, and just like there’s a different impact listening to a musician in real life, so it is with film.” [Source]

In advance of this year’s Ann Arbor Summer Festival – which starts on Friday, June 14 – local photographer Myra Klarman reflects on what she and her son Max love about it. She writes: “My batteries – the ones in me and the ones in my camera – are fully charged and ready for this milestone season. Festival executive director Robb Woulfe and Amy Nesbitt have truly outdone themselves this year. The lineup, which seems to be even meatier than usual, makes me feel like a kid in an exotic candy store. I’m looking forward to experiencing totally new (to me) artists, and getting reacquainted with longstanding favorites.” [Source]

In a post on the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark site titled “Where’s the @#$%! Skatepark?!” FAAS president Trevor Staples describes the project’s progress. He writes: “We’ll be building this summer. Would we have liked to have started in May? Yes. The fact is, we’ve done the work that it takes to get a 30,000 square foot skatepark built in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There’s still a ton of work to do, and the handful of volunteers who have busted their butts to get us this far are continuing to work their fingers to the bone to do what’s needed to make it happen.” [Source]

In an essay published on The DOMA Project’s website, Patricia Davenport of Ann Arbor argues against U.S. immigration laws that discriminate against the foreign spouses of U.S. citizens. Her son is engaged to a Turkish man, and the couple currently live in Istanbul. Davenport writes: “Any law that discriminates in this way against my son, also harms our entire family. This is not a gay issue, this is about American families. And it is time for this to come to an end, so my son and his partner can come home to us.” [Source]

The University of Michigan Hospital is holding a contest to name the four peregrine falcon chicks that were born recently on the hospital’s roof. A similar contest for last year’s brood yielded these names: Lloyd, Bo, Fritz and Yost. [Source]

Bryan Rogers, who served as dean of the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design from 2000 to 2012, died on May 28 after a lengthy illness. A post on the school’s website quotes current dean Guna Nadarajan: “For those who worked closely with Bryan, he is remembered most for his wry and often wicked sense of humor, his grace and devoted friendship, his love of music and reading, and the many acts of kindness that he performed without an expectation of thanks or recognition.” [Source]

On her blog, Ann Arbor Public Schools trustee Christine Stead posts a list of budget questions that she has sent to the AAPS administration in preparation for an upcoming study session. Many of the questions focus on finding ways to make budget cuts without impacting the classroom and programs. [Source]

Writing on Ann Arbor Schools Musings, Ruth Kraut takes an in-depth look at the Broad Foundation and its influence on school systems nationwide, including in Ann Arbor. The current Ann Arbor Public Schools superintendent, Patricia Green, attended a training center funded by the foundation, and the search firm that’s helping to find Green’s replacement has ties to the center. Kraut writes: “It’s not just that I don’t agree with the Broad Center’s agenda; it’s that I don’t think that most Ann Arborites do either. Further, and even worse, I don’t think that the Broad Foundation is honest about their agenda. I believe that their agenda is to privatize, and profit-ize, public schools.” [Source]

Forbes and Mashable are among the many media sites that have posted a video of Twitter CEO Dick Costolo’s speech at the May 4 University of Michigan commencement. Mashable notes: “Costolo, a graduate of UM who pursued comedy after earning his bachelor’s degree for computer science in 1985, started his speech by tweeting a photo of the crowd and ended it saying, ‘hashtag go blue!’” [Source] [Source]

Bridge Magazine reports on disparities in health between neighboring Washtenaw and Wayne counties: “The health gap is best summed up in one piece of data: The average Wayne County resident dies at a younger age than residents of any other county in the state. Washtenaw men live an entire U.S. Senate term – six years — longer than Wayne men; the average Washtenaw woman lives 2.7 years longer than her counterpart to the east.” [Source]

A $110 million donation by Charles Munger will fund a 600-occupant, 8-story graduate student dorm and academic complex at the University of Michigan. The donation is the largest ever received by UM. The dorm will be located on the north side of East Madison Street between South Division and Thompson. As a point of reference, the area covers the location of the current Blimpy Burger building on the west. [Source]

A post on Discover Michigan features Bill’s Beer Garden, located in the courtyard of Downtown Home & Garden in Ann Arbor: “This is the type of beer place parents can bring their kids to and not feel weird about it. This is a place to simply bring one’s child, hang out with your friends, take in the sunshine, and people watch.” The beer garden opens for the season on May 2. [Source]

In a column published by Bridge Magazine, Natalie Burg writes about her reasons for living in Michigan – despite the belief by many that “the well-educated, career-driven, creative-class Millennial like myself is not found in the wild here in Michigan.” She continues: “Living in Ann Arbor, I’m a quick drive from four major media markets. And lucky me, I write about growth in the state with the most growth potential. As she writes in her book, ‘Lean In,’ Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg believes in choosing employers by their growth potential. Being self-employed, the market in which I work is my employer of sorts, and there couldn’t be a better one than Michigan.” [Source]

An article on Salon reports that Eden Foods, an organic company headquartered south of Ann Arbor, has filed a lawsuit seeking exemption from the federal mandate to cover contraception for its employees under the Affordable Care Act. The company is represented by Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center. From the report: “Eden Foods, which did not respond to a request for comment, says in its filing that the company believes of birth control that ‘these procedures almost always involve immoral and unnatural practices.’” [Source]

The Ann Arbor Schools Musings blog is asking readers to weigh in with their thoughts on Ann Arbor Public Schools superintendent Patricia Green, who announced her resignation this week. One of the open-ended questions asks about qualities that are important for the next superintendent. [Source]

A column on BuzzFeed Sports tells the story of how David Barrett’s “One Shining Moment” – written 27 years ago – became the signature song for the NCAA basketball finals. “From the snare drum and piano that opens the segment to a few seconds later, when that familiar 11-note synth-trumpet kicks in, the interplay between words and harmony never veer from Barrett’s original architecture. In fact, despite all the iterations through the years, many of the same musical elements remain from that fall day in 1986, when a handful of men came together in an Ann Arbor studio to record the first song for the first time.” [Source]

Photographer Myra Klarman has posted some gorgeous images taken at the April 5 FoolMoon festivities in downtown Ann Arbor, including luminaries that fit this year’s theme of “Foo[L]d” (Foolish Food) – a futomaki roll, Moon Pops, cupcakes, bananas, fish and more. As she writes, “a veritable smorgasbord of divine delectables.” [Source]

The latest post on Nacho Frenzy – a blog focused on “nacho ratings from in-and-around the city of Ann Arbor” – reviews the nachos at Ashley’s: “There’s nothing outright bad about the plate, it’s just very average. I usually enjoy it more than I should because of the above mentioned atmosphere and because I’m usually two beers in by the time I get them.” Other recent posts review nachos at Isalita and the Wurst Bar in Ypsilanti. [Source]

The University of Michigan is exploring a possible public-private partnership to run the parking system for its Ann Arbor campus and the UM Health System. The University Record reports that UM has hired Greenhill & Co. to study possible options. [Source]

The Ann Arbor Rotary Club‘s blog highlights the service of Jim Cook, one of the club’s past presidents who recently received the group’s distinguished service award. His accomplishments include service on Rotary’s International Humanitarian Projects Committee, where he led major projects in the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Africa, and South and Central America. Cook has also served as a board member and chair of the Ann Arbor Art Center and Washtenaw Chapter of the Red Cross, and on the board of the Michigan Diabetes Association. [Source]

Damn Arbor highlights the fact that Washtenaw County showed the largest increase in Facebook profile photo changes this week, using the red and pink “equal” sign to support marriage equality. The changes were analyzed by Eytan Bakshy on the Facebook Data Science Team. The Human Rights Campaign had urged Facebook users to change their profile photos on Monday, March 25, as the U.S. Supreme Court began debating two same-sex marriage cases. [Source]

The Washtenaw Health Plan has announced open enrollment in April for no- or low-income adults ages 19 through 64. The program is offered by the Michigan Dept. of Human Services and managed locally under the Washtenaw Health Plan as “Plan A.” [Source]

The University of Michigan reports that five unions representing about 11,000 workers have ratified contracts, the longest ones running through June 30, 2018. The unions with new contracts are AFSCME, the Michigan Nurses Association, Graduate Employees’ Organization, Lecturers’ Employee Organization, and House Officers Association. The ratification has occurred prior to March 28, when the state’s right-to-work legislation takes effect. [Source]

Darcy’s Cart is featured on the Ann Arbor farmers market blog, which highlights local vendors. It includes chef Paul Kessenich’s recipe for potato & kale hash. [Source]

Selma Cafe has posted information about parking for the weekly breakfast gathering, urging people to consider walking, biking, or taking the bus as a way to help manage traffic and parking. The post includes a map showing a “red zone” on certain streets in the neighborhood near Eberwhite Elementary, where parking for the cafe is prohibited. [Source]

One year after a devastating tornado hit the Dexter area, Sharon Silke Carty writes a column – published by the Dexter Patch – about how things have changed for residents: “There are moments in everyone’s life when you can say things changed inside you forever. The first big moment for me like that was when my father died. My memories are categorized as before, and after. I suspect the tornado did that for many people in Dexter, even if we’re grateful for new friends, new support networks, and new perspective. But that dinnertime storm on March 15, 2012 will always be a before and after moment.” [Source]

A  20-question survey by the Washtenaw County office of community and economic development (OCED) is part of an effort to help identify ”creative opportunities for growing our local economy and utilizing community capital.” Questions include “Have you ever contributed to a crowdfunding campaign?” and “What would you need to know or have in order to be comfortable investing locally?” [Source]

A2Ethics.org has posted a 16-minute video of highlights from the nonprofit’s A2Ethics Big Ethical Question Slam, held on Feb. 7. As described on the A2Ethics website, the annual event is a “one-of-a-kind ethical dilemma competition [that] challenges teams of community organizations to respond to major ethical questions and have their answers evaluated by a panel of invited judges and the audience.” [Source]

A post on Ann Arbor Schools Musings highlights a March 11 panel of the state Board of Education, focusing on funding reforms for K-12 education. The post includes a note from Jack Panitch, former Angell PTO president, urging people to attend: “This is an opportunity to show Lansing that large numbers of informed voters are watching their actions and that we care about our kids’ futures. It is also an opportunity to fall flat on our face if attendance is thin.” The event, which is open to the public, runs from 6-8 p.m at Pioneer High’s Little Theater, 601 W. Stadium Blvd. [Source]

An article on RH Reality Check explores the efforts by Ann Arbor-based Zingerman’s to develop a “thriveable wage” for its employees. Excerpts from a vision statement: “Higher wages lead to higher morale and is the engine that keeps everything spiraling upward. In many cases, productivity increases due to lowered stress levels in the lives of the people in our organization because of assurance that their financial needs are covered.” [Source]