Archive for April, 2009

A post on WorkingCouples.com states that the Ann Arbor bed & breakfast Vitosha Guest Haus Inn is looking for a caretaker couple to live in the garden cottage, trading room and board for a percentage of wages. “Duties include grounds work (gardening), grocery shopping, laundry and making up of guest rooms (additional staff during busiest days).” [Source]

A New York Times article about compliance officers for college sports interviews Judy Van Horn, UM associate athletics director and senior woman administrator, who is also president of the National Association for Athletics Compliance. She wants to abolish rules about phone calls to recruits that she feels are unenforceable: “If you have a coach who is intent on cheating, all they have to do is not give you all the phone numbers.” [Source]

Robin Agnew

[Editor's note: Robin Agnew and her husband Jamie own Aunt Agatha's mystery bookstore in Ann Arbor. She also helps run the annual Kerrytown BookFest.]

“Liars Anonymous” by Louise Ure (St. Martin’s Minotaur, $25.95)

“When had I crossed that weathered threshold that divided the world between citizens and survivors? Between what could be and what we are in our darkest hours.”

I know I’ve really enjoyed an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) of a novel when I look back and see how many pages I’ve dog-eared, for one reason or another. In the case of Louise Ure, it’s for her use of language, which is both precise and original. Sentences like “I missed my friend Catherine like she was a country I could no longer visit,” and “Her teeth had click-clacked with nervous energy while she filled out the paperwork, like a sleeping rabbit dreaming of carrots” are so evocative, and so vivid, they stay with you. It’s not often this kind of clarity is found in a hard-boiled mystery novel, but here it is. Maybe the beauty of the language is meant to carry the reader through the story of Jessie Dancing, which is one of the darker books I’ve read in a long while. [Full Story]

The Raw Story reports that Arizona State University won’t be giving President Obama an honorary degree when he speaks at commencement next month, quoting a spokeswoman who told the ASU State Press, “Because President Obama’s body of work is yet to come, it’s inappropriate to recognize him at this time.” Last year, the school gave an honorary degree to Jim Duderstadt, former UM president. [Source]

In a column reviewing American-made gin, Eric Felten of the Wall Street Journal gives props to a batch from Leopold Bros., formerly of Ann Arbor: “But my favorite of the bunch came from the Leopold Bros. distillery, founded a decade ago in Ann Arbor, Mich., and recently transplanted to Denver. Leopold’s American Small Batch Gin comes in a squat, clear apothecary bottle. The simple white labels with handwritten batch numbers contribute to the gin’s lab-sample appearance. Yet Leopold’s gin isn’t the least bit medicinal. Distiller Todd Leopold has managed to get a true and robust juniper flavor without the hints of pine that many people find so off-putting about gin.” [Source]

No one attending last month’s public meeting at Lawton Elementary looked happy to be there. Nor were they happy about the prospect of holes being dug in their basement and front yard. “My wife and I have lived in our house 30 years and never had a drop of water in the basement,” one man said. “Do I really need this?”

Someone from Mrs. Szalay's kindergarten class at Lawton Elementary made this drawing, which hung in the school's hallway last month on the night of a public meeting at Lawton's gym. The picture's facial expression reflected the sentiment of some homeowners who attended.

“This” is a citywide program to disconnect the footing drains in all houses from the sanitary sewer system. And the answer to his question is “yes” – because the city mandates it.

Much like the sidewalk replacement program, the effort to disconnect footing drains will span several years. But unlike the sidewalk replacement, which homeowners must pay for, the city is reimbursing costs of the drain disconnect – at least for now.

The program started in 2001 as a way to deal with chronic sewer backups in basements of some residential neighborhoods, caused during storms when stormwater would flood that sewer system. In older homes, footing drains – which are designed to divert ground water away from a house’s foundation – were often connected to the sanitary sewer system. With heavy rains, the system didn’t have the capacity to handle the additional rainwater. Sewage would back up into basements through floor drains. It wasn’t pretty [Full Story]

On MVictors, Greg posts a recent interview he conducted with UM quarterback Nick Sheridan. A sampling: MVictors: …Everyone’s seen the photos on the internet of Matt Leinart and Michael Phelps at parties. What do the coaches tell you about Facebook, Twitter and the perils of getting caught in a bad situation? Sheridan: It’s not a constant reminder about what you should do, but since I’ve been here coach Carr and coach Rodriguez have had people come in and talk to us about it.  I think the university had a Facebook seminar for athletes a year or two ago, we were supposed to go there when we were freshman just to warn you it’s out there. It’s … [Full Story]

Detroit News columnist Charlie LeDuff writes about the demise of the U.S. auto industry, as seen through the lens of the dismantling of a former Ford plant in Ypsilanti: “You can now watch the liquidation of the American Dream in real time. Any given week, the guts of a whole factory are auctioned off. Its contents are sold piece by piece and taken away for scrap or antiques or resale to foreign companies. Men with blowtorches and trucks haul off tool-and-die machines, aluminum siding, hoists, drinking fountains, salt and pepper shakers, anything that might be of some value. It is the removal of the country’s mechanical heart right before your eyes. It is breathtaking.” [Source]

Thank-you note from Congressman John Dingell as stamped and scanned by the city clerk's office. (Image links to file with both front and back of the note.)

Ann Arbor City Council Meeting Part II (April 6, 2009): We’ve already summarized council’s deliberations on the A2D2 rezoning effort in a previous report.

Here we focus on other business handled by council and topics raised during public commentary at that same meeting. Much of it was related to streets – whether it was vacating them, closing them for special events, or repaving them. The other major theme, as reflected in comments from the public, was public art.

We also include some evidence that the art of the handwritten thank-you note is not dead. [Full Story]

The blog for Friends of Ypsilanti Freighthouse reports that Governor Jennifer Granholm will be paying the freighthouse a visit on Friday, April 9, at 9:30 a.m. to announce some good news about the freighhouse. [Source]

Ann Arbor-based Michigan Peaceworks is organizing a Bike Choir.”What is a bike choir? It’s a group of 4 to 25 (or more) people who sing (often in four part harmony) as they ride together through the streets. Based on the only other bike choir we know of (Song Cycles – Toronto’s Choir On Bikes), the songs are usually familiar popular, jazz, classical, world, theater, or folk tunes usually adapted to sing the praises of bicycle transportation and/or the communities that embrace it.”  The group is gathering at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 20 at Arbor Brewing Co. [Source]

Automotive News reports that GM won’t get government funding for the hybrid Chevy Volt until the Obama administration approves the company’s overall restructuring plan. The article quotes Rob Kleinbaum, managing director of RAK & Co., a consulting firm in Ann Arbor, who says in the absence of federal funding, GM might pay for Volt with money from other vehicles: ”That would be a mistake. The Volt won’t be commercially successful for quite some time. By robbing Peter to pay Paul, they’d be undermining their bottom line.” [Source]

Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners Administrative Briefing (April 8, 2009): Hefty funding from the federal stimulus package means as many as 1,000 local youth will get summer jobs and hundreds of adults will get job training and employment services, county commissioners were told at their Wednesday administrative briefing. Of the $3.6 million awarded to Washtenaw County, $1.95 million will be used to fund jobs for low-income youth between the ages of 14 to 24. The county now needs to find employers with suitable job openings, said Verna McDaniel, deputy county administrator.

Commissioners also discussed their plan for this Saturday’s retreat, which will focus on setting budget priorities. [Full Story]

In its Photo Features section, Talking Points Memo has published a photo on the death of newspapers that made folks here at The Ann Arbor Chronicle do a double-take. [Source]

Performance Network must raise $40,000 by April 15 or the Ann Arbor theater group will close, according to a posting on the nonprofit’s website: “Performance Network’s Board of Directors has completed its mid-year financial analysis. Its conclusion: In the current realities of decreased corporate and state funding, and with more uncertainty around every corner, the organization must meet key financial benchmarks in order to stay financially viable, and continue to operate.” In addition, the group says it needs to raise $150,000 by Oct. 1, the end of its fiscal year. [Source]

Scott Rosencrans, a member of the Ann Arbor Park Advisory Commission, and Elaine Selo of Selo/Shevel Gallery on Main Street, at a meeting to discuss the city’s arts and culture community.

Collaboration – and the need for more of it – was a common theme Tuesday night at a meeting to discuss Ann Arbor’s arts and cultural future. Hosted by the Arts Alliance, it’s part of a series of forums aimed at developing cultural plans for seven communities in Washtenaw County, under a broader plan for the entire county.

Several people spoke about the urgency of supporting local groups, as the economy continues to batter both businesses and nonprofits. Elaine Selo, co-owner of Selo/Shevel Gallery on Main Street, said she’s seen ups and downs for 27 years, and now “all of us are just trying to survive.” [Full Story]

UM students throwing Holi Powder at each other. "We aim not to eat the powder."

FestiKites last Sunday afternoon had been billed as a chance to come fly your own handmade kite at Palmer Field as a pre-FestiFools activity. The brisk temperatures, with a gray cloud ceiling threatening rain and little wind, meant that the sky was not exactly colored with kites.

But there were plenty of bright colors at ground level. On the edge of the field, University of Michigan students with the Hindu Students Council were flinging brightly colored powder at each other in a belated celebration of the Holi Festival, which is held at the end of the winter season.

Surabhi Pandit, president of the Hindu Students Council, said she hadn’t participated in a Holi Festival celebration until she came to UM, but had done so the last three years through HSC.   [Full Story]

Silvio’s Organic Pizza, at 715 N. University, is donating a percentage of their sales to earthquake relief in Italy on Thursday and Friday of this week. As Silvio says in a letter that appears on their website: “As a former volunteer of the Red Cross, which in Italy is always called in cases of natural disasters, my first instinct was to go there to help dig by hand every inch of the debris. The best I can do from here is to start fundraising amongst the great community of Ann Arbor.” Silvio hails from the Abruzzo region of Italy, where the earthquake struck. [Source]