Mark Maynard | 2009 | January

“beezy’s, where terrorists gather for soup”

By Mark | January 26, 2009

The greatest terrorist of all time, Bill “Kill Your parents” Ayers, and his old lady, Bernadine Dohrn, surfaced in Ypsilanti this afternoon and our friend Bee had the distinction of serving them soup. Following is her report from the field.

I did get a cell phone pic AND some burgeoning young socialists took a photo which will be launched on facebook soon I imagine. I got hugs and kisses and compliments on the soup. They took beezy’s buttons and pinned them on and I hope to become the newest neo-terrorist bastion of SE Michigan.

they ate vegetarian, and bernadine was holding a ‘venti’ starbucks cup the whole time she was there. ouch, stick it to the man until its time to get coffee.

but since I’m Canadian and have no politics (ahem, we won’t talk about my being quebecois and the whole secession thing, mmmkay?) beside feeding folks the ultimate socialist food: soup; I’d say they were a nice bunch of interested people and I was thrilled to see a little walking piece of history.”

I love the image of Bernadine Dohrn, formerly of the Weather Underground, sipping a Starbucks coffee. It would make a wonderful painting, wouldn’t it?

In related news that might interest Dohrn, who at one time advocated a communist revolution in America, Starbucks has indicated that they would be laying off another 1,000 workers in order to increase shareholder value.

Posted in Other | 8 Comments

what’s in a name, ypsilanti?

By Mark | January 26, 2009

Someone told me last night that when the Ypsi Marriott changed their name to the Ann Arbor Marriott that their business increased by 30% in one year’s time. Another person at the table, who I know to be a lover of Ypsilanti, then suggested that we change the name of the town to Woodruff’s Grove, which was the name of the small community that developed over time into what was incorporated in 1823 as Ypsilanti. Another person with us then suggested, I think jokingly, that we change the name of the city to East Ann Arbor.

And it got me thinking about my love for this little town, and question how much of it, if any, was due to the distinctive name. “Would it matter to me,” I thought, “if this town were called something else?” If I were to hear someone seriously suggest it, I think my initial instinct would be to become furious, but is that response justified? It is, after all, just a name, right? And, it’s a name that, like it or not, carries along with it a lot of not so positive connotations in the area.

Just think of how property prices would jump in the wake of changing the name to East Annarbour, or whatever. I don’t know if it’s been studied, but I suspect such a move would have a real, measurable impact. At least I imagine it must have done something to property values in East Detroit when they changed their name to Eastpointe. And, if there are real numbers to support this notion that the name of a place predicts its success, why haven’t our cold, heartless local real estate moguls and business leaders already tried it?

I doubt they’d be successful, but maybe it would be a good thing for the community if someone tried. Maybe it would make us come together and realize what it is that we love about this quirky little rustbelt town of ours.

[This post was brought to you on behalf of the MM.com January special at the Corner Brewery… You still have a few days to drink and save.]

Posted in Ypsilanti | 31 Comments

who in the hell do these people work for?

By Mark | January 25, 2009

In spite of Obama’s near 70% approval rating, it looks like Republicans in Congress are going to fight him on his economic recovery package… unless, that is, he agrees to make Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy permanent.

I’d like to see Obama start with some kind of legislative victory, but maybe it’s a good thing if the Republicans decide to stand up and fight this publicly. It would certainly make it clear to everyone that their loyalties don’t lie with the majority of their constituents, who would be seeing their taxes cut under the Obama plan.

Obama, as you may recall, has made it clear that, under his plan, everyone making less than $250,000 dollars a year will pay less in taxes than they do presently. So this clearly isn’t about the 99.5% of their constituents who make less than a quarter of a million dollars per year, or, for that matter, the 7% of Americans who are now unemployed. This is about preserving the Bush tax breaks for the ultra-rich that are set to expire.

If our economy weren’t in such terrible shape, and if we didn’t desperately need to begin creating jobs and building the infrastructure for domestic energy production immediately, I’d welcome a Republican filibuster, dooming whatever remaining chances the party might have for a future. But I think there’s too much on the line right now, and I hope, for the sake of the country, a few Republicans will take the high road and join the Democrats (who damned well better all vote in support of the legislation). And, if no one comes forward on the Republican side, we’d damned well better be ready to act in a big way, bringing all kinds of attention to those men and women who would rather protect the interests of the mega-rich during this time in which so many of our friends and neighbors are finding themselves out of work and losing their homes.

Posted in Politics | 40 Comments

how about a community talent show this summer?

By Mark | January 24, 2009

Hanging out with some friends last night, the idea of a community talent show came up. We were all in agreement that it would be worth doing, and most of us, after giving it a few minutes of thought, were able to offer up ideas as to what we could do. I said that I could write a short, 5-minute play with my family. (I’d like to do a really heavy dramatic scene.) Another friend said that he could perform a few songs with his wife and daughter. (They’ve only practiced once, but they recently formed a band called Animal Magic.) Another friend said that she could make an outfit for her dog and teach it to do a trick or two. As long as no one took it too seriously, I think it could be really good – especially if we were able to get older folks and kids involved… I wonder if the Dreamland Theater has plans for the weekend of Heritage Festival yet. If not, maybe we could shoot for then.