A love letter from Ann Arbor

bloatedego

[The text is taken from an anonymous email I received this evening. The image of our downtown water tower is from the Ypsilanti Area Visitors and Convention Bureau’s new Ypsi Real video.]

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17 Comments

  1. Jean Henry
    Posted September 29, 2015 at 10:15 pm | Permalink

    So, technically, according to Freud, a person (or city) arrested in the phallic stage (3-6 years) would be suffering paralyzing insecurity and difficulty individuating, not a bloated ego. Just saying…

  2. anonymous
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 7:38 am | Permalink

    I can’t decide if this is from Mary Kerr or Conan Smith.

  3. Anne
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 7:53 am | Permalink

    When I first moved to Ypsilanti from East Lansing in the early 80’s I was happy to find an affordable apartment near to the “cool” city of Ann Arbor. The second weekend here I was shopping in Ann Arbor during the Ohio St./Michigan game. When asked by a shop keeper why I wasn’t wearing my maize and blue, I responded that I was a State grad and not invested in the day’s game. She said, “why don’t you go home?”. I couldn’t believe it. Over the years I’ve been given the same treatment over and over again. This latest email to you Mark is just one more example of Ann Arbor’s arrogance. My sister (who lives there) doesn’t understand my hostility but then again, she’s not on the receiving end of a never-ending “holier than though” attitude. Ann Arbor folks just don’t get that the little community to the east is cool and affordable and pleasant. They do seem to afford that status to Saline, Chelsea and Dexter. Which leads me to believe that a whole lot of this vitriol is rooted in racism and classism. I said it, and I stand by it.

  4. Amy Probst
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 8:00 am | Permalink

    Envy much?

  5. Taco Farts
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 8:09 am | Permalink

    I know you’re a passionate guy mark but I still figured you had enough online experience to not give a troll such a generous meal.

  6. Emily Mills
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 9:44 am | Permalink

    I clicked the link before I saw the text. For a second I actually thought there were going to be some sweet words. How silly of me! But really, I cannot take someone from Ann Arbor talking about a bloated ego seriously.

  7. Rick Cronn
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 10:02 am | Permalink

    The writer of the anon email has no clue about the meaning of the word ego. They just like to use big words.

  8. insecure much?
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 10:49 am | Permalink

    http://imgur.com/ZK3O0M2

  9. Peter Larson
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 11:22 am | Permalink

    “Ann Arbor folks just don’t get that the little community to the east is cool and affordable and pleasant.”

    From this blog and its comments, I would assume that Ypsi is rather exclusive, shut in and self obsessed. When I am in Ypsi, I find it to be a welcoming place, but reading this blog, I am inclined to believe otherwise.

    Just an observation.

  10. Posted September 30, 2015 at 12:26 pm | Permalink

    I think I have a real love letter for you from Ann Arbor. My Imitrex-addled brain (migraine a poppin’ all night and today) gave me the most blessed dream ABOUT YOUR BLOG! I’ll try to describe it…it was this garage but think of an old 1950s movie type garage where there’s a bunch of car parts and wires and random shit lying around. Also, old men in baggy pants and smoking. I don’t know why I was there, but I had to find you and somehow I knew to follow the wire and way in this back room was you on a computer and that was where your blog “lived”.

    It wasn’t creepy or weird and the Puppet didn’t show up or anything, but it’s kind of nice to know that my brain decided your blog needed a place to live and it picked a 1950s era garage in Ypsilanti.

  11. Frosted Flakes
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 12:40 pm | Permalink

    No offense to anybody, but, how many people out there have ever heard anyone describe Saline, Dexter, or Chelsea as “cool”, as Anne claims? Further, do people consider Chelsea, Dexter and Saline “affordable”?I always considered those communities trending in the direction of upscale and expensive similar to Ann Arbor. Not sure.

  12. Frosted Flakes
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 12:43 pm | Permalink

    I guess it does not matter if the main purpose was to just call Ann Arborites racist….

  13. Lynne
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 12:54 pm | Permalink

    Well, Frosted Flakes, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

    Seriously, Ann Arbor is pretty racist. Not the most racist place I’ve ever been to be sure but the implicit racism there definitely colors many Ann Arborites perceptions about Ypsi.

    I also found Ann Arborites to be really uptight about dumb things and certainly as a group, they seem to have less of a “live and let live” attitude that I find common in Ypsi. Oh sure, there is drama sometimes such as the recent Eden Foods drama with the Food co-op but it just seems to be on a much smaller scale.

    I’ve haven’t heard people trying to make Dexter, Chelsea, or Saline sound “cool” but I am also pretty sure that most of the people out that way aren’t even trying to be cool. The concept of cool or hip just isn’t important to them. Not like it is in Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti. Not sure it matters though.

  14. Lynne
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 12:57 pm | Permalink

    Anyways, it seems pretty obvious as Amy Probst mentions earlier that this is almost certainly a case of penis envy. I am surprised that Ann Arbor hasn’t proposed moving the water tower along with the CVB. ;)

    Our dick is so cool, everyone wants one!!!! (except of course for Saline, Chelsea, Manchester, and Dexter who don’t even want to be cool)

  15. Mr. Y
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 1:14 pm | Permalink

    Conan Smith: “We will move the water tower to Ann Arbor from Ypsi, but you will still be able to look at it for 10 years. After that, there are no promises.”

  16. D.B.
    Posted September 30, 2015 at 3:48 pm | Permalink

    I hope you responded, “If you got it flaunt it.”

  17. Jay
    Posted October 1, 2015 at 12:00 pm | Permalink

    I have reached the age of Curmudgeonry. I find plenty of things I like about A2 and Ypsi, and plenty of things that annoy me about both. To me, it’s like the endless arguments about Mac vs PC. The former are both places to live and the latter are both tools. Both have their advantages & disadvantages. In any case, as a licensed Curmudgeon, I find the endless carping about either to be annoying. Enjoy what you got folks, wherever you are. It ain’t gonna last forever. FWIW, over my 30 years in A2, I have been disgusted by its once creeping now rampant Birminghamization. On the other hand, the permanent chip on the Ypsi shoulder has become a freaking 2×4. My wife would tell the children at this point “Now, say three nice things.” OK, Ypsi, you have a true gem in Depot Town, a vastly underrated university, and Mark Maynard. Ann Arbor: easy access to the Huron River, a world class hospital system, and Northside Grill. //exit soapbox.

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