Mark Maynard | 2008 | March

emu professor mark higbee on cnn

By Mark | March 29, 2008

We’ve talked about Robert Kennedy quite a bit here over these past several years. Most recently, we were discussing a speech that he delivered in Indiana on the night that Martin Luther King was murdered. Much of the analysis in that thread came from local history professor Mark Higbee, who, at 7 years old, was there that night with his father, listening to Kennedy as he broke the news about King’s death. Well, his comments caught the attention of a producer at CNN, who was preparing a report on the 40th anniversary of King’s assassination. That report is now done, and, if you’re interested, you can see it on the CNN website. The video of Mark Higbee explaining how that night and the events surrounding MLK’s death are responsible for his decision to dedicate his life to researching race relations in America is particularly powerful.

The main CNN report can be found here. And, if you want to see Mark Higbee’s video go here. Just click on the link that says “United States,” and roll your mouse over the city of Indianapolis. When you see the name “Higbee” pop up, click on it, and the video should load.

[The video of Mark was shot by EMU video services librarian, Ray Lucas.]

Posted in Media | 4 Comments

information about max kemmerling, formerly of the ypsilanti state mental hospital

By Mark | March 27, 2008

The following comment was left earlier today in an old thread about the abandoned Ypsilanti State Mental Hospital.

Hi Mark. My Great Uncle Max Kemmerling lived almost his entire adult life from the age of 20, at/in Ypsilanti State MH. Prior to his incarceration, he was an All State athlete, a National Honor Society Member, and frankly, just a real sweet, handsome guy. I plan to track down “The Three Christs of Ypsalanti” but I am curious if there are any searcable archives for the hospital. I now live in Chile, so it’s not like I can just skip down the road and look at documents.

I’d like to find out what my Uncle was there because of. Schitzophrenia? What? I’d like to know what his life was like. I never knew him, he was a “family secret”, but I did for a long time have a bedside table he made – a quite beautiful piece of work. I think he was a talented, gifted man, who just didn’t fit in. Hope you know of some resources to find out more about him. Thanks, Vicki Lansen (Kemmerling – Max Kemmerling was my Uncle).

If you have any information that could help Vicki in her quest to find out about her uncle, I’d appreciate it if you would leave a comment. Thanks.

Posted in Ypsilanti | 28 Comments

university of michigan prison art show

By Mark | March 27, 2008

I snapped this photo a few days ago, while judging this year’s University of Michigan Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners. This note was attached to the back of one of the paintings. This was the only piece where I knew what the crime of the artist had been. Hopefully you can read it.

Posted in Art and Culture | 15 Comments

the pure evil of barack obama

By Mark | March 27, 2008

A local fireman who reads this blog just wrote to tell me that he’d received an email slamming Barack Obama as a threat to the American way of life. As he knew the information in it was false, he wrote to the sender, challenging her on it. Perhaps not surprisingly, the woman from whom it came claimed to have no knowledge of it. Here’s her response.

No, I’m VERY upset about this e-mail. I have no idea who the author is & who decided to put my name on it & send it out from our church e-mail address. It’s very disturbing!

I did not write it!!! I have no idea what is true & false about it.

If you know who sent it to you, please let them know I DID not write it. I’d like to get my name cleared from this.

Thanks,
Darlene Millican

Here’s the note, in case you haven’t seen it. It’s vile, but impressive. It’s amazing to see how much the Republicans have grown since 2004, when they started up the rumor about McCain having fathered a black love child. That was bad. This is evil.

Some of you may have already read this. If you haven’t it is worth reading. It is very serious if true.

This is from Darlene Millican, wife of the pastor of Trinity Bapt. Church here in Sun City…

I have felt for sometime now that Obama is the one person that ‘Frightens Me’. I believe the Bible has warned us that ‘A man will come from the East that will be charismatic in nature and have proposed solutions for all our problems and his rhetoric will attract will many supporters!’

When will our pathetic Nation quit turning their back on God and understand that this man is ‘A Muslim’…First, Last and always…. and we are AT WAR with the Muslim Nation, whether our bleeding-heart, secular, Liberal friends believe it or not. This man fits every description from the Bible of the ‘Anti-Christ’! I’m just glad to know that there are others that are frightened by this man!

Who is Barack Obama?

Very interesting and something that should be considered in your choice.

If you do not ever forward anything else, please forward this to all your contacts… this is very scary to think of what lies ahead of us here in our own United States… better heed this and pray about it and share it.

snopes.com confirms this is factual. Check for yourself.

Who is Barack Obama?

Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHEIST from Wichita, Kansas. Obama’s parents met at the University of Hawaii.

When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.

Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, ‘He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school. Obama’s political handlers are attempting to make it appear that that he is not a radical. Obama’s introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son’s education.

Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background. ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran.

Barack Hussein Obama will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegiance nor will he show any reverence for our flag. While others place their hands over their hearts, Obama turns his back to the flag and slouches. Do you want someone like this as your PRESIDENT?

Let us all remain alert concerning Obama’s expected presidential candidacy.

The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level – through the President of the United States, one of their own!

I love how they encourage people to check it out at Snopes if they don’t believe it… Of course, as you might have guessed, Snopes soundly refutes it, but, of course, no one will actually go to the trouble… I predict that by November, there will be video of him feasting on the blood of Christian infants while raping their helpless, virginal, lilly-white mothers. I think, maybe then, we will have hit rock bottom as a culture… And maybe then the healing can begin.

Posted in Politics | 95 Comments

ypsilanti’s boxelder acres csa closes

By Mark | March 27, 2008

Our friend Lisele just left a comment in last week’s thread about farming, alerting us to the fact that our local CSA, a farm called Boxelder Acres, was closing down. According to their Local Harvest write-up, the farm, which had for the past ten years been Certified Organic, discontinued certification last year in order to spend more time on farming and less on paperwork. I have no idea why things came to an end, but one wonders if perhaps their business model may have been the reason. From what I understand, they required people to pick up their shares weekly at the farm, and pay weekly. That’s quite a bit different than, say, Tantre Farm, another local CSA, that requires payment up-front for the entire growing season. (If memory serves, their CSA is divided into 100 shares, each of which costs $550, giving them $55,000 at the beginning of each season.) Of course, the reason for their closing might not be financial at all. I just wonder if maybe their model played a part… Or, for that matter, if they might have lost people after losing their organic certification.

OK, I just did a little Googling and found a 2006 email posted at the old YpsiDixit site by someone from Boxelder Farm. In the letter, he or she explains the reasoning behind their pay-as-you-go system. Here’s the relevant bit:

…”The way we see it, there are only three ways for a farmer to retail their vegetables. Farmer’s markets, roadside stand, or a CSA. In the first two, the farmers grow their crops, offer them for sale, and customers may chose what and if to purchase. Somehow they are able to stay in business, year after year, without a whole bunch of people sharing in their risk. Then there are the CSA farmers, who need all of their customers to give them a $500 interest free loan before planting because their operation is so risky. What’s up with that? What’s up is that an experienced, knowledgeable, properly equipped farmer on good ground, with a diversified mix of crops, an adequate irrigation system, field tiling and a good market, is going to be moderately successful year in and year out. Will the business be wildly profitable? Will there be ups and downs, drought and flooding? Will the work be long and hard? Will there even be times you might want to quit? Let’s guess.   

“CSAs are often started by someone with a walk behind rototiller and a large garden who thinks that if they just make it a little bigger they can start a CSA and quit their day job. They call us all the time asking for advice on getting started. You should hear the conversations. What really excites them is the idea that they don’t even have to actually be successful because they get paid up front by all their risk sharing customers.

Let’s see, $500 times 100 customers is? We are going to be RICH!!! If you decide to join such a CSA we can guarantee that you will able to enjoy some risk sharing.   ”We have a 100 family CSA. Most of our customers return year after year. They also show up week after week to get their vegetables, paying with checks that don’t bounce and tell us over and over how great everything tastes. To us the most important defining feature of our CSA is that we are providing healthy, locally grown food to local families who appreciate all of our hard work. It’s all pretty simple, and hey, it works for us.”

Whatever the reason, we wish all the best for Asa Wilson and the folks at Boxelder…. Hopefully, someone else will step in and fill the gap. I don’t know how seriously she’ll pursue it, but Lisele mentioned the possibility of operating a coop farm at Boxelder, if the land were available. I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything more aobut it.

Posted in Architecture | 2 Comments