[Editor's Note: HD, a.k.a. Dave Askins, editor of The Ann Arbor Chronicle, is also publisher of an online series of interviews on a teeter totter. Introductions to new Teeter Talks appear on The Chronicle.]
Longtime Ann Arbor resident Metta Lansdale was recently hired as director of the Traverse Area District Library in Traverse City. Her first day on the job is today, Nov. 2. I talked to her on the teeter totter just before her move north. [Full Story]
To address excessive creaking, a recommendation from Rosencrans (a carpenter) was to level up the totter's base – a suggestion already implemented. (Photo by the writer.)
[Editor's Note: HD, a.k.a. Dave Askins, editor of The Ann Arbor Chronicle, is also publisher of an online series of interviews on a teeter totter. Introductions to new Teeter Talks appear on The Chronicle.]
In recent coverage of the Park Advisory Commission, The Ann Arbor Chronicle reported that Scott Rosencrans had just been elected chair by his colleagues on that body.
So despite the fact that he did not prevail in the recent city council Democratic primary election in Ward 5, Rosencrans will continue to serve the Ann Arbor community – by chairing PAC. Among the topics we discussed on the totter was Argo Dam, which was a campaign issue that might have affected how Ward 5 residents voted. Incumbent Mike Anglin was against removing the dam, while Rosencrans supported its removal if the rowing community could be accommodated. Rowers make heavy use of Argo Pond. [See additional Chronicle dam coverage.]
Back in 2004, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality alerted the city of Ann Arbor to problems related to the earthen berm to the east of the dam. That berm separates the mill race – used by canoists to reach a portage around the dam – from the river. A task force and study lasting at least two years culminated in a months-long community dialogue on the future of the dam earlier this year. The city council has made no decision on a dam-in or dam-out solution.
The city recently sent a letter to the MDEQ asking for another extension in the deadline for a decision on how to address problems with the dam’s toe drains. And Byron Lane, chief of the dam safety program with the MDEQ, has sent a response. [Full Story]
[Editor's Note: HD, a.k.a. Dave Askins, editor of The Ann Arbor Chronicle, is also publisher of an online series of interviews on a teeter totter. Introductions to new Teeter Talks appear on The Chronicle.]
Last Thursday, 23 July, 2009, The Ann Arbor News published its final edition after nearly 175 years in business. I spent part of that morning talking on the teeter totter with Brian Tolle about what people “hire” newspapers to do – besides provide them with news and information.
The notion of “hiring” newspapers – by subscribing to them – to do a “job” is a way of thinking about products that comes naturally to Tolle. He works in the field of organization development, providing consulting services to technology companies on the people side of the equation.
Tolle has a tolerance, even enthusiasm, for change and innovation. So when pitched the idea of reading a newspaper on a high-tech paper scroll, he did not fall off the teeter totter laughing. [Full Story]
Tottering out at Caryn Simon's farm. In the background if you look close, some chickens are visible. (Photo by the writer.)
[Editor's Note: HD, a.k.a. Dave Askins, editor of The Ann Arbor Chronicle, is also publisher of an online series of interviews on a teeter totter. Introductions to new Teeter Talks appear on The Chronicle.]
I care what things are called. Therefore I do not take lightly the headline written for this introduction to the most recent Teeter Talk – with Caryn Simon. I do not prefer the term “see-saw.” In fact I rather dislike it.
It’s a teeter totter, not a see-saw, and I want you to remember that.
Given that I have the power to write headlines as I like, why use a term I find odious? Because “see-saw” alliterates with “salve.” And I enjoy alliteration more than I dislike the term “see-saw.” Why “salve”? Because Caryn teaches a class on salve-making. [Full Story]
[Editor's Note: HD, a.k.a. Dave Askins, editor of The Ann Arbor Chronicle, is also publisher of an online series of interviews on a teeter totter. Introductions to new Teeter Talks appear on The Chronicle.]
Of the possible opera singers who could appear on the totter, I figure it’s always best to go with the kind that alliterates with the venue: a tenor. But if I ever had occasion to invite a soprano to ride, I suppose it might be possible to relax my rigid instance on “teeter totter” as the name of the equipment, in order to achieve a “Soprano See-Saw.”
But no such accommodation was necessary for Shawn McDonald, who is not a soprano, but a tenor with the Arbor Opera Theater. He’s the artistic director for the upcoming production of Die Fledermaus from June 18-21 at the Mendelssohn Theater. The AOT website includes a full schedule of Die Fledermaus events, including specifics of performance times and ticket information. [Full Story]
Book cover of "Riverwalks" by Brenda Bentley.
[Editor's Note: HD, a.k.a. Dave Askins, editor of The Ann Arbor Chronicle, is also publisher of an online series of interviews on a teeter totter. Introductions to new Teeter Talks appear on The Chronicle.]
There’s been an unintended two-month hiatus in tottering. Talking on the totter resumed last week with Brenda Bentley.
I met Brenda around this time of year standing on the Broadway Bridge – the one over the Huron River, not the one over the railroad tracks. I first thought it was last year, but my recollection is hazy.
Through that haze, I think I remember the reason I was hanging out on a bridge that’s not in my neighborhood: I was waiting for Liz Elling to pass through during her swim along the length of the Huron River.
Elling swam around a 100 miles down the Huron in July 2007. So it’s actually been two years since I first met Brenda.
On that occasion, she was taking notes for a book she was writing about walking routes that lead to the river. Consistent with my habit, I invited her to come ride the teeter totter once she completed the book. [Full Story]
[Editor's Note: HD, a.k.a. Dave Askins, editor of The Ann Arbor Chronicle, is also publisher of an online series of interviews on a teeter totter. Introductions to new Teeter Talks appear on The Chronicle.]
How does someone like Ariane Carr come to be a guest on my backyard teeter totter?
I live in a neighborhood that is frequently targeted by canvassers for various causes. In my youth, I knocked on doors selling subscriptions to the morning newspaper that I delivered (the Courier-Journal out of Louisville, Kentucky had a circulation area that reached as far north as Columbus, Indiana), and I have no fond memories of that experience. So I do not envy the task of these mostly 20-something folks wielding clipboards. For several years I’ve had a long-standing strategy of telling them right up front, I’m not handing over any money, but I’m happy to sign stuff and write stuff. I don’t want to waste their time if money is the only way they can use my help. [Full Story]
The southern-most roundabout on North Maple Road was the site of teeter totter ride No. 170.
[Editor's Note: HD, a.k.a. Dave Askins, editor of The Ann Arbor Chronicle, is also publisher of an online series of interviews on a teeter totter. Introductions to new Teeter Talks appear on The Chronicle.]
I first met Zak Branigan outside the UPS store at Westgate shopping center, when I was dropping off a load in the course of my bicycle delivery duties. He’d recognized me by the sign on my bicycle trailer for ArborTeas, which is run by a friend of his, and alum of the totter, Jeremy Lopatin. [Full Story]
Christopher Taylor's hand holding an orange mug.
Christopher Taylor, one of two Ann Arbor city council representatives for Ward 3, rode the totter a couple of weeks ago. His conversation is ready to read.
I would highlight the discussion of city-university relations as a topic of broader significance that was touched on while teetering. For details, read Taylor’s Talk.
Other topics on the totter included the orange mug he drank from on the occasion, the CTN mugs from his recent appearance on CTN’s Conversations, getting stuff done at the individual constituent level, snow removal in Ann Arbor, and how Taylor came to live in Ann Arbor. [Full Story]
On Tuesday of this week, the totter returned to action after a long period of inactivity. We reprised a theme with some previous history on the totter: real-time parking data. This time around, the live-data feed on parking space availability, which is streamed to the web by Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority, has been piped into a telephone system.
The guy who did that: Fred Posner. [Full Story]
If Elizabeth Parkinson’s Talk was sponsored by the letter “Q,” then it’s fair to say that Dawn Lovejoy’s Talk was sponsored by the letter “Y.” [Full Story]
Civil engineering graffiti all along the east sidewalk of Division, between William and Liberty, indicates that the sidewalk is coming up soon. Signs at the north and south ends say the sidewalk is closed, but dozens of pedestrians use it anyway.
The Detroit Free Press looks at a dispute between state legislators and the boards that manage Detroit’s two public pension funds. Lawmakers have introduced bills to bring the pension funds under the control of a Lansing-based nonprofit trust, the Municipal Employees’ Retirement System. The article quotes Bob Stevenson, an Ann Arbor-based pension attorney, who says the Bing administration should restructure the existing boards: “Undoubtedly, the Detroit pension systems have been poorly run, but I don’t think the answer in my view would be to transition to MERS. I would find some means to keep these pension plans autonomous.” [Source]
The Eat Close to Home blog puts out a call for volunteers for Avalon Housing’s Edible Avalon project: “Edible Avalon is a great group that’s not only helping to build gardens in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area, they are teaching people how to garden and supporting them through their first gardening efforts. They are looking for volunteers to help mentor new gardeners at their garden sites 1-3 hours per week.” [Source]
In a recent report on an AAPS board meeting, we paraphrased remarks of participants, and we employed the informal nomenclature of the speakers for “Ann Arbor Open School @ Mack.” Those variants were departures from the accepted standard shortening to “Ann Arbor Open.” We acknowledge the name of the school here, and have cleaned up references to it in the original piece.
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