Ypsilanti

Infantile behavior 2

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During last Monday’s school board meeting to discuss the issue of the Braves nickname, several people who made public comments, really struck a chord with me. Unfortunately it wasn’t in a good way. Essentially, they kept referring back to Eastern dropping the Hurons name and how donations fell off after that. The implication was that by changing the nickname, people would stop supporting Ypsilanti High School, as if it suddenly ceased to exist. The fact that people are so attached to a nickname that it means more to them than the people behind it is disturbing. Do you support a football team because of the name of that team? or is it because your kids go there and it’s a part of your community.

The reason people who graduated from Ypsilanti High School have been successes in life has nothing whatsoever to do with the Braves name. It’s because of the teachers they had, the relationships they built and the lessons they learned. If someone is so attached to team nickname that they would stop supporting a school when the name changes, then I say good riddance to them, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. As my friend Eric put it best, the way we treat the least among us says much more about us than the way we treat the majority. Just because the native Americans are relatively few in number, that does not excuse our appropriating their identity for a cheer.

The junior student who spoke of coming into Ypsi High with no connection to the name, but then becoming attached to his identity as an Ypsi High student spoke the truth without even realizing it. Students who come in next year will have no connection to a new name. But over the time they spend there, they will build their own identity, based on their own experiences. Only those who refuse to let go of what is already gone will have a problem. We must learn the lessons of the past but live in the present as we move into the future. If I see one more person crying about what a nickname means to them or their parent, I think I’ll scream. Get a life people! Move on.

New ‘casts

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There are several new podcasts available since I last put a note up here. Max has recorded a couple of MewzikCasts including one that is mostly christmas music last week. However, it’s totally non-traditional Xmas stuff. Go check it out. Also the the Ypsi school board podcasts continue. This week there’s two parts featuring the discussion of the Braves nickname at Ypsi High. Steve Pierce also has a video of the meeting up over at his site.

Shadow art fair a success again! 8

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water towerCongratulations to Mark and all the other organizers of the Shadow Art Fair! This weekends second edition of the fair was another huge success. Apparently the Corner Brewery was packed all night on Friday, so Jules and I went over there early today, and got some Christmas shopping done. We had some great coffee roasted by John Roos, and picked up a print of the Water Tower from Matt Callow (of pinhole fame). The new mayor, Paul Schrieber, Linda French, and other local luminaries (including a rather odd looking Santa) were all in attendance. It was great to see so many dedicated and talented people being rewarded for their efforts. Afterwards my lovely wife and I had some lunch at the Sidetrack, where I had the best fish and chips around. All in all a great day. Don’t forget to go down to the Sidetrack on Tuesday for Dinner and Drinks to support Growing Hope.

Shadow Art Fair 2 2

This entry was posted in Ypsilanti on by (updated 6596 days ago)

shadow art fair 2My friend Mark and his co-conspirators have done it again and the second Shadow Art Fair is coming up next weekend. The first fair last July was a huge success and this one is going to be even better. It’s going to be at the Corner Brewery again, and this time it will run Friday night from 8pm to midnight and then on Saturday Dec. 2nd from 11am-8pm. Make sure you go down their and check it out and buy some local made stuff to give as holiday gifts.

Beer and Bloggers 2

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Jules and I just came back from Beer and Bloggers down at Frenchies. It was great to meet and talk to some of the other local bloggers. We met Julia from Ann Arbor is Overrated, Brett from Maproom systems, Rod from Out of the Woodwork, Ol’ East Cross and Ed from Superpatron. Steve Pierce, Cam Getto and many others were there too. We talked to some great people, and it’s great to see so many people interested and involved in what’s going on around our community. We also tried out the new Sidetrack mini-burgers which are really great.

The future of Ypsilanti Business 2

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The audio of the downtown Ypsi business forum is now up on the feed where I had the recording of the mayoral debate. I’m still working on the video part. I’m going to split the video into smaller chunks and put on the feed over the coming days. You can listen or watch directly from this page, or if you have iTunes or some other podcatcher or feed reader you can just subscribe with the link in the sidebar and it will automatically get downloaded to you computer when it’s available.

TK WU – enter at your own risk

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We stopped in to eat at TK WU on Liberty Street in A2 this afternoon and left wishing we hadn’t. About the only thing we had that was halfway decent was the salt and pepper calamari for an appetizer. After that it went downhill. Sofie had the almond chicken which came smothered in a rather unpleasant tasting gravy and that was probably the least unpleasant dish. Max tried the mu shu shrimp and in spite of loving shrimp he was unimpressed. Jules had some hot and sour soup that a really funky flavor and shrimp lettuce wrap that consisted largely of frozen peas and carrots and wet iceberg lettuce. My szechwan beef was the last to arrive and was practically inedible. The black pepper was totally over-powering, but even with that the other spices just tasted all wrong. I’ve had lots of szechwan before and never tasted anything like quite like this, and hopefully never will again. Sometimes when you try a new restaurant you find a pleasant surprise like Taqueria La Loma, other times you find one you never want to see again like Tk Wu.

The future of downtown Ypsi business 2

This entry was posted in Ypsilanti on by (updated 6624 days ago)

Last night the YpsiVotes group held the first Fuature of Downtown Ypsilanti Business session and there was a great turn-out. There were around100 people in the room at the EMU College of Business. A lot of local business people turned out to participate as well as interested people from the community. It was great to see so many people that really want to see downtown Ypsi thrive. As has become so clear to me over the last couple of years the people who live in Ypsilanti, really love this town and want to re-build it. I recorded the event as did Steve Pierce and as soon as I get it transfered and encoded in the next day or so you’ll be able to watch the whole thing from the YpsiVotes feed.

The event started with a presentation by the dean of the EMU business school David E. Mielke. The presentation that Mark Maynard did on the history and status of downtown Ypsi is also available. Speakers included David Curtis (Pub 13, Club Divine) Tandra Williams (Puffer Red’s) Paul Shemon (Cogdon’s Ace Hardware) Jennifer Albaum (Henrietta Fahrenheit) Reynold Lowe (Materials Unlimited) Peter Rinehart(Bombadil’s). The speakers talked about their experiences trying to open and operate a business downtown. The results have obviously been mixed with some (Bombadil’s) being more successful than others (Henrietta Fahrenheit). One interesting thing to learn was that such a high percentage of downtown businesses are locally owned. Other attendees included Linda French, Brian Robb, and prospective mayor Paul Schrieber. The best thing was to see so many people who are optimistic about the potential of Ypsilanti and are willing to work so hard to make it happen.

New podcasts up

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In recent days I’ve published a couple of new podcasts. First up is is the latest MewzikCast. Max recorded episode 21 last weekend and it features Danko Jones, Angel Vivaldi, and Chance. I also posted the recording of the this week’s Ypsilanti School Board Meeting. I lost the last five minutes because my recorder was full, but nothing much exciting happened then. There was some discussion of access by military recruiters to students. Apparently the recruiters had been getting essentially free reign to talk to students in the high school cafeteria and a new policy was going to be proposed to limit that access. It turns out there was already a policy in place, but no one was aware of it or enforcing it. There are limits on the access of employment recruiters to students in the school and the policy also applies to military recruiters. There was also a report from the community vision committee. The committee developed a vision for the Ypsilanti Schools and there is some good stuff there that I’ll right more about later. You can hear the audio portion of the report at the podcast site.