Is the government really coming for the guns of climate change deniers?

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Sometimes, on my way home from work, if I can’t find anything else on the radio, I listen to the ranting of WAAM’s Terry “Thayrone X” Hughes. This evening, I happened to tune in during a segment on Obama’s plans to confiscate the guns of America’s self-described “patriots” by exploiting new federal rules intended to help keep deadly weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill. [The quote you see above is what I heard immediately upon clicking over to AM 1600.]

Well, as I was intrigued, I started poking around tonight after putting the kids to bed, and found not only the online archive of Thayrone’s show, which I’m listening to in its entirety now, but the article on Breitbart.com that inspired the rant I’d caught earlier. Here’s a clip from that article, which is titled “Five Proofs Democrats Are on Verge of Gun Confiscation.”

A new Obama administration healthcare rule “allowing health care [sic] providers to report the names of mentally ill patients to an FBI firearms background check system.” Because the definition of “mentally ill” is arbitrary, FrontPage Mag predicts the moniker of “mentally ill” will begin to be applied to “any belief or behavior that the left would like to stamp out– fervent adherence to the Constitution, homeschooling, and climate change ‘denial,’ for example – enabling the government to categorize those gun owners as mentally ill and disarm them.”

Personally, I’ve seen no evidence of this in my own life, but, then again, I probably don’t fit the “proud clinger” profile. Maybe doctors really are beginning to single people out, asking them to rate their love of the Constitution on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most fervent. And, maybe, when people come into the hospital presenting signs of rabid conservativism (like Gadsden flag fanny packs and screaming eagle t-shirts), they really are being held for observation. If you’ve heard about such things happening, let me know and I’ll get word to Thayrone so that he can draft up plans for an A Team-inspired breakout.

While it’s true that I don’t believe we need semi-automatic assault rifles in this country, it’s also true that I believe that we, as Americans, should be free to be stupid without fear of being taken into custody and shown photos of Cliven Bundy and Ayn Rand while doctors examine the readings of blood flow monitors attached to our genitals… I may disagree with these people, but no one deserves to be labeled a potential terrorist just because he become engorged at the thought of a shirtless Donald Trump holding a rifle, overseeing a Mexican work crew build a wall.

[note: I didn’t make the graphic above. It comes courtesy of the Ted Cruz presidential campaign. It was created by Cruz staff as part of a recent fundraising pitch.]

Posted in Civil Liberties | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

While it’s nice that people are sending bottles of water to Flint, I can’t help but wonder where all of that money is going

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I’ve been thinking a lot today about the millions and millions of little, single-serving bottles of water being sent to Flint by people around the world… On the whole, I think it’s a good thing. And I love knowing I live in a world where people so desperately want to help that they’re willing to pony up their own money and send send either a few bottles, or a few hundred thousand, to people who they don’t even know. With that said, though, I can’t help but wonder where all of the money spent on that bottled water is going.

I should add right up front, before I launch into my rant agains the bottle water industry, that I really don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. I don’t know if, when people are buying water in bulk to send to Flint, the water companies are selling that water at cost. They may be. And they may also be sending water on their own to Flint, without any promise of payment at all. I don’t know. I mean, I heard that Absopure, which is a Michigan-based water company started a campaign where they’re matching purchases for Flint bottle for bottle, but I don’t know if the big players… like the Nestlés of the world… are doing anything similar. And, in their defense, they could be. My guess, however, is that they’re likely making money off of what is happening in Flint, and that bothers me.

Nestlé, by the way, is the biggest of the “big five’, when it comes to bottled water. As of this past summer, they owned 29.8% of the global bottled water market. And they’re growing. According to today’s news, the Swiss company’s stock has risen 2.48% over just the past five days. I have no way of knowing, of course, if that has anything to with the fact that 100,000 people in Flint have just sworn off tap water completely in favor of using bottled water, but I don’t imagine it hurts… If I were a smarter man, and a little more evil, I’d buy stock. Instead, though, I just thought that I’d complain about it online.

Out of curiosity, I just did some quick poking around to see how much, if anything, Nestlé had given to Snyder over the years. Maybe, in another state, a search like that would yield some results. In Michigan, though, where we just won the title of the least transparent and accountable state in the nation, such searches don’t generally yield much. I mean, I found that Snyder supported a partnership with Nestlé that allowed the company to supply “nutritional expertise” in Michigan schools, over the protests of many who felt as though said materials had a corporate bias, but I didn’t find any evidence of the company actually giving Snyder money. But, like I said, I wouldn’t expect to find evidence of that, seeing as how our Governor, who ran for office promising increased transparency, made sure that the identity of his donors stayed private by incorporating his “Nerd Fund” as a nonprofit “social welfare” organization, thereby ensuring all records remain secret. And, as we know, we can’t FOIA Snyder’s correspondences, as Michigan is one of only two states in the entire union where such things are exempted from the Freedom of Information Act.

So I don’t know if there’s any way to find out how tied to “Big Water” our Governor is. I do know, however, that his former Chief of Staff, Dennis Muchmore, is married to Deb Muchmore, who happens to be a corporate spokesperson for Nestlé. If her name sounds familiar, it might be because, not too many years ago, she was the one explaining to us in Michigan why it was OK for Nestlé’s Ice Mountain brand to export so much of our most precious natural resource from Mecosta County. “Nestlé brings jobs and supports the economy,” she said at the time. “Ice Mountain cannot by law stop the flow of springs when they withdraw water,” Muchmore added. “They have not dried up any wells. No streams have dried up. No ecosystems have been harmed. The science backs this up.” Of course, this didn’t prove to be the case. As the result of a subsequent court case, in which it was brought to light that the Michigan Department for Environmental Quality (MDEQ) had seen a “measurable impact on certain waters and wetlands” in the Muskegon aquifer as a result of Nestlé’s pumping, the plant was forced to cut its production by half. [It’s still unclear what the long range effects of years of extraction will be.]

By sharing all of this, I’m not trying to suggest that there was any vast conspiracy to drive up profits at Nestlé and move us one step closer to an America where all of our natural resources are owned and controlled by private entities. What I am suggesting, however, is that it’s complete bullshit that we’re counting on just ordinary people, and celebrities like Cher, to provide safe drinking water to the people of Flint. That, in my opinion, is fucking insane. And, furthermore, I think it’s obscene that bottled water companies are likely profiting on every one of the millions and millions of small bottles being sent to Flint. Yes, it’s nice that people want to be involved, but it’s a national disgrace that we’ve let it come to this.

Right now, at this very minute, the National Guard should have tanker trucks full of clean, drinkable water set up in every neighborhood throughout Flint. And they should be going door to door, handing out large, wheeled containers so that people can easily transport water, whenever they want, from these trucks to their homes… Wouldn’t that be exponentially more efficient than shipping millions of tiny bottles across the United States, especially since we have ready access to fresh, clean water right here in Michigan?

As for what we get this water from, here’s an idea… Why don’t we just go directly to the source? Why don’t we instruct the National Guard to drive directly to the Ice Mountain facility in Mecosta and just back their trucks up. Instead of filling tiny Ice Mountain bottles with our water, and sending them off to stores to be bought and sent back to Flint, why not just fill the trucks directly, and cut out all of the wasted steps and the plastic? I don’t know how receptive Nestle would be, but I’m sure, if our Governor just called Deb Muchmore and explained how serious the situation was, she’d be glad to help, right?

As for all of the good people around the U.S. who, understandably, want to contribute in some way, here are a few ideas that don’t involve buying and mailing small bottles of water… How about starting a fund at Flint’s Hurley Medical Center so that they can offer more in the way of outreach to families of young children suffering from the effects of lead poisoning? Or how about donating to the ACLU so that they can hire more investigative reporters, like Curt Guyette, who helped expose what’s happening in Flint, to make sure this doesn’t happen elsewhere? Or, if you want to send water, how about organizing a drive to send six-gallon carboys instead of costly individual bottles?

Posted in Civil Liberties, Environment, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 41 Comments

U-M PhD Michelle Leach, the founder of Oasis Aquaponics, on leaving academia to focus on solving basic problems afflicting the poor

Upon graduating the University of Michigan with her PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Michelle Leach decided to try something different. Instead of either pursuing a careen in academia, or accepting a job in industry, she chose to start a social venture called Oasis Aquaponics with the intention of creating an affordable food production system that could dramatically improve the quality of life for poor families in Central America. Now that her third generation prototype is about complete, thanks in part to a grant from the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation, I thought that I’d check in with her and see how things were going.

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[above: Michelle Leach and Jacquelyn Hernandez Ortiz in El Salvador, in front of Mt. Guazapa, surrounded by the ubiquitous corn that dominates the local diet.]

MARK: When discussing the Oasis Aquaponic Food Production System with someone for the first time, how do you describe? Or, to put it in entrepreneurial terms, what’s your elevator pitch?

MICHELLE: Food insecurity is the constant companion of the poor. Our solution, The Oasis, is a solar-powered inflatable aquaponics system capable of producing at minimum 300 pounds of Tilapia and 600 pounds of tomatoes, or other vegetables, annually. With a projected retail price of $100, and a business model that provides low-interest purchasing credit, our system is radically affordable and accessible.

MARK: How did the idea for the Oasis Aquaponic Food Production System come about?

MICHELLE: Two years ago, my friend Jacquelyn Hernandez Ortiz was finishing up her agricultural engineering degree and needed a senior thesis project. (Jackie was one of the Salvadoran students who received a college scholarship from my church.) Jackie asked me to help her brainstorm, and it just happened that I had recently stumbled across an article on aquaponics online, so I suggested the technique to her. Neither Jackie nor her professors had ever heard of aquaponics. I assisted them with locating some literature in Spanish on the subject, although there wasn’t much available. Jackie and her student teammates had great success with their senior thesis project, which resulted in a prototype barrel-based system. Jackie graduated, got a job with a local non-profit in El Salvador, and continued building the barrel systems with women in five remote villages in her general area. She and I then collaborated to increase the size of the system and moved to a brick tank-based design. This substantially increased the system’s production capability. However, the systems were still too expensive to sell. So we designed the Oasis with ultra-affordability in mind.

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[above: The first prototype: a barrel based system]

MARK: And you, if I’m not mistaken, are spending a good deal of your time in El Salvador now as well, working with Jackie, correct?

MICHELLE: Yes. Jackie meets with the women who have barrel systems on a semi-regular basis to resolve any problems they may encounter. A subset of the women are also working on a larger system that they operate on a cooperative basis with Jackie in town. I do weekly water testing on the 31 brick systems, as well as chat with the family operators to address issues and try to glean more insight. I also have several more experimental-type systems running, which I monitor on a day to day basis.

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[above: The second prototype: a brick tank system]

MARK: For people who might not be familiar with aquaponics systems, can you give us a brief overview on how the various components work together?

MICHELLE: Simplest explanation: The fish feed the plants and the plants clean the water. More detailed: The water pump draws water from the fish tank up to the gravel grow beds. Fish waste is suspended in this water and the gravel acts as a crude filter, as well as physical support for the plant roots. Bacteria living on the surface of the gravel breakdown this waste into a form of nitrogen which plants can uptake. The water draining out of the grow beds falls back into the fish tank, oxygenating the tank a bit in the process. Then the cycle repeats.

MARK: How has the $1,000 Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation grant helped?

MICHELLE: The money has all gone toward prototyping.

MARK: So, where are you with the next generation prototype?

MICHELLE: I hope to have prototypes ready to go in El Salvador by the end of February.

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[above: Third generation Oasis prototype]

MARK: It’s probably worth noting that you, by training, are a biomedical engineer. Is that correct?

MICHELLE: Yep, undergrad, masters, and phd, all at U of M. My thesis focused on biomaterials for repair of trauma to the peripheral nervous system. I’m working on totally different stuff now – and yet sustainable agriculture has a similar base of knowledge – biology, engineering, the health of the product, producer and the environment, etc.

MARK: I’m curious as to why you chose to go this route instead of seeking out a post doc. Had you, earlier in your career, been planning to go into academia? If so, why the change in course?

MICHELLE: Yes, my plan had been to continue in academia, but I became rather disenchanted with it all. Particularly in my postdoc work it became apparent that I was spending all my time building million dollar devices that might one day benefit a couple of millionaires. It struck me that there were far more basic problems afflicting far more people that still needed to be addressed. I initially chose biomedical engineering because I wanted to use science and engineering to improve quality of life. I have not deviated from that course.

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MARK: Would it be fair to say that, while a lot of work has been done in the area of aquaponics, up until now, there hasn’t been a lot of scientific research in the field? I mean, a lot of people are building systems, but, to my knowledge, not a lot of trained research scientists, like yourself, have taken on the problem in a systematic way that might yield reproducible results, right?

MICHELLE: Yes, this is one my peeves. There are a ton of backyard hobbyists, who are producing systems that seem to work, but they lack controls. It also seems like a few commercial operations are doing well, but they guard their systems like trade secrets. The few scientists who have done work in the area are using systems which are incredibly complicated/expensive and unsuited for the developing world. No one is doing well-controlled research on SIMPLE systems. This is the hole I’m trying to fill.

MARK: You said this was one of your peeves. Are there others as relates to this new industry you’ve entered?

MICHELLE: Sure, I suppose. The idea that the solution to poverty is a ‘thing’ or device is also somewhat misguided. People aren’t poor because they don’t have an Oasis, or a water filter, or a solar panel. People are poor for a host of other systemic reasons, which include poor infrastructure, corrupt governance, non-functioning legal frameworks, etc, etc, etc. But an Oasis, or a water filter, or a solar panel can make poverty less severe while big systemic changes happen slowly. We can use ‘things’ to chip away at the effects of poverty, and in the process empower the poor to demand systemic change.

MARK: There are other aquaponic systems on the market. How is the Oasis system different?

MICHELLE: The Oasis is designed to be radically affordable and large enough to produce a substantial quantity of food. Other systems are either extremely over-priced or too small to make a dent in a family’s nutritional requirements.

MARK: How is the system being received by those currently using the prototypes in El Salvador? Is it, as you had intended, changing people’s lives for the better? Are they providing useful feedback?

MICHELLE: The systems are being very well received. While everyone to date has received their system free of charge, we only provided alevin (baby fish) and concentrado (fish food) for the first crop cycle. It is up to the families to purchase these items for subsequent crop cycles. So far no systems have been abandoned. We see this as evidence that the families find the systems valuable. We have had some trouble getting ‘straight’ feedback, though… Everyone is super polite to me, and I was getting suspicious that perhaps I wasn’t hearing the whole story. So I recruited a local person to do anonymous interviews. We got some good data, which we are still working to translate and compile, but our preliminary read through suggests everyone is happy with the systems. We did, however, identify some small issues to address that hadn’t been on our radar.

MARK: What kinds of small issues? I’m curious.

MICHELLE: The operators compare the size of their fish to those of their neighbors. They attribute this to a difference in quality of alevin. The truth is that most of this inter-system variability is from different degrees of operator error. I wasn’t aware how little the operators understood about overfeeding resulting in excess nitrogen, resulting in stunting. Looking at it now, it’s rather counter-intuitive. For most animals, more food = more growth. In this case, though, too much food is very detrimental. And we need to do more education to drive this point across. I’m also going to create a kind of ruler scale that can be transferred onto a Coke bottle so that users of the system can make their own ‘measuring cups’.

It also came across how different operators are picking up small ‘tips and tricks’ that need to be shared with the group. We are going to try to convene them more often to share lessons. Stuff like: Make sure kids aren’t throwing rocks in to startle the fish, they will get sucked into the pump. If your dog is inexplicably soaked on hot days, it’s because he’s going swimming in your system. Just because you don’t see birds or garobos (local iguana-ish things) in your yard doesn’t mean they aren’t robbing you blind when you’re out of sight.

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[above: Tilapia – about mid crop cycle]

MARK: You mentioned above that you were considering a unique financing system that would allow people to purchase these systems more easily. What do you have in mind?

MICHELLE: It would be a microloan with the system itself as the collateral.

MARK: I’m curious about your price point of $100 per unit. Do you think that’s sustainable? First, do you think you can produce and deliver the Oasis system for that amount? And, second, can you make enough to sustain a company, investing in sales, R&D, customer support, etc.?

MICHELLE: We see ourselves as really having two markets. Farmers in the developing world and aquaponics enthusiasts in the developed world. The price point in the developed world will be higher. Also, the amount of infrastructure we will be building in the developing world will be minimal.

MARK: Have you thought about your distribution channels yet? Is there an existing infrastructure of some kind that you can perhaps piggyback on?

MICHELLE: Distribution in the developing world is tricky and absolutely must piggyback on the informal systems already in place. For example, Coca Cola stopped driving trucks around El Salvador years ago. However, you can still get a $0.40 Coke on the side of any mountain in any tiny remote village. Why? Because an informal distribution network of village shopkeepers and mid-size wholesalers exists. The only distribution method that works is local people selling locally. It is very much the Wild Wild West with the village General Store. The shopkeeper becomes like a car dealer – a subject matter expert, a repair shop, etc all in one. We won’t develop a large sales and customer support network, rather we will fit into the one that already exists.

MARK: The last time we spoke, we discussed your long range plans to start collecting data from users, having them weigh the fish harvested, the produce grown, etc. Have you made any headway toward putting together a research plan that will yield hard data?

MICHELLE: For now, I think our initial pilot with The Oasis will be run by Jackie herself. It is very important that we get accurate data. We will have a small number of systems (2-3) at first, so it won’t be too much for her to manage.

MARK: So the idea is to have two or three units, side by side, so they’ll have the same sunlight, rainfall, etc… and then collect detailed data on the output of each system in terms of fish and vegetables produced… Will all of the units be exactly the same, or might one, for instance, have a different species of fish, or peppers instead of tomatoes, or a different kind of pump circulating the water, so that you can begin making comparisons that might help you to optimize the system?

MICHELLE: Yes, that’s the idea. For now, I am envisioning the systems identical with the exception of the power units. At least one will be on grid, and the others will have the option to be switched to the grid if the solar systems aren’t cutting it. (The grid is very stable where we are, and I have some doubts about the cheap components of the solar system). We will load the three with different amounts of fish (all tilapia) and try to keep the number and type of plants more or less constant.

MARK: Can you quantify how impactful a system like this might be in the life of a family in El Salvador? Do you have anecdotal data from those you’ve been working with thus far?

MICHELLE: Very impactful. Whole tilapia sells in the market at $2/lb. Tomatoes are $0.60/lb. A family that produces 300 lbs of fish and 600 pounds of tomatoes, that sold every bit of produce, could cover their costs and still net around $900 a year. In a country where a family is lucky to bring in $500 per person, per year, this can have an enormous impact. (Hard physical labor nets $1 per hour, when you can find it.) And all this from a system which only requires 15 minutes of attention daily.

Posted in A2Awesome, Agriculture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

ACLU Michigan’s investigative reporter Curt Guyette on the Flint water crisis, sharing meatloaf with musician Gregory McIntosh, the future of Ypsi’s infamous Elbow Room, and our second annual on-air swap meet… on this weekend’s Saturday Six Pack

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Somehow, yet once again, we’ve managed to book an awesome show for your listening pleasure this Saturday evening. This weekend’s show will be in four parts. First, we will be continuing our ongoing coverage of the Flint water crisis with ACLU Michigan’s investigative reporter Curt Guyette. Then, we’ll be talking with Andrew Epstein, the new owner of Ypsilanti’s infamous dive bar, the Elbow Room. And, following that, our friend Jean Henry will be dropping by with a box full of treasures for our second annual on-air swap meet. And, lastly, we’ll be joined by musician Gregory McIntosh, with whom I will be sharing a meatloaf… So, if you like the sounds of chewing, be sure to stick around until the very end.

SwapMeet2For those who might not be aware of the role that Guyette played in the breaking of the Flint water story, here’s a clip from a resent feature in the Columbia Journalism Review.

IT WAS NOT A TYPICAL EVENING OF REPORTING. In early September, Curt Guyette was knocking on unfamiliar doors in Flint, Michigan—not to ask for interviews, but to ask residents to test their water for lead. Local activists were doing the same thing on sidewalks nearby, and in other parts of town. The task: Muster tests from as many ZIP Codes as possible to give a complete picture of what, exactly, was flowing out of the taps in Flint.

Guyette had been following the story of lead in Flint’s water for months, even as officials assured residents and the media that everything was under control. Over the summer, he’d helped produce a mini-documentary about concerns with the water for the ACLU of Michigan, where he works as an investigative reporter. That led to a scoop—a leaked memo from a US Environmental Protection Agency official that explained how Michigan’s process for lead testing in Flint’s water delivered artificially low results.

Now, a researcher from Virginia Tech was conducting an independent evaluation, and Guyette wasn’t just following the story, he was in the middle of it. Initial assessments by the researcher, Marc Edwards, had already found dangerously high levels of lead in the water in many Flint homes—the consequence of a series of questionable government decisions. More tests, taken with the samples collected by Guyette and others, confirmed the problem with the water. Soon, a local doctor was reporting elevated blood-lead levels in Flint children, too, and county officials were declaring a public health emergency…

And, here, thanks to AM 1700 senior graphic designer Kate de Fuccio, is this week’s poster, in case any of you want to print copies and distribute them in the Meijer’s parking lot.

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FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER TUNED IN TO THE SIX PACK BEFORE, HERE ARE THE DETAILS ON HOW TO LISTEN:

Unless you live inside the AM 1700 studio, chances are you won’t be able to pick the show up on your radio. As that’s the case, I’d recommend streaming the show online, which you can do either on the AM1700 website or by way of TuneIn.com.

And for those of you who aren’t yet familiar with the show, and need to get caught up, you can listen to the entire archive on iTunes. If you start right now, and listen to everything at double speed, but you can do it.

One last thing… If you’d like to tell your friends and neighbors about the program, feel free to share the Facebook event listing.

And do call us if you have a chance. We love phone calls. So please scratch this number into the cinder block wall of the recreation room of whichever facility you’ve been assigned to… 734.217.8624… and call us between 6:00 and 8:00 this Saturday evening. The show is nothing without you. Sure, sometimes it’s nothing even with you, that’s true, but usually you make it better.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Michigan, The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Ypsi Immigration Interview: Lynne Settles

While I’d talked with Ypsi High art teacher Lynne Settles a few times over this past year, about the HP Jacobs mural that she and her students had created on the side of Currie’s barbershop, and other community art related things, I didn’t realize until a few weeks ago that she was actually a relatively new transplant to Ypsilanti. Well, upon finding that out, I asked if she’d be willing to sit down for a formal immigration interview. Fortunately, she agreed. Here are the results.

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[above: Photo of Settles from episode 32 of the Saturday Six Pack. Image courtesy of Kate de Fuccio.]

MARK: Do you know the circumstances of your birth?

LYNNE: I know that I was sort of a sickly baby. I was preemie, and had asthma.

MARK: How premature were you?

LYNNE: I was born two months premature.

MARK: Did you have any siblings?

LYNNE: Yes, I now have one brother, and two sisters.

MARK: Are you the oldest, youngest, or somewhere in the middle?

LYNNE: There were five of us. I had an older brother who passed away about three years ago. So now I have two older sisters. One is in Michigan, and one in California. I also have a younger brother in Colorado.

FB_IMG_1452118198579MARK: What was your role in the family? [right: Lynne and her brother.]

LYNNE: I was always the creative one. I was my mom’s helper in decorating during the holiday season.

MARK: Where were you born?

LYNNE: Pontiac, Michigan.

MARK: How are you most like your parents?

LYNNE: I relate to children easily, like my dad. Kids from the neighborhood would come over to our house just to see my dad. And I’m probably most like my mother in that she always seem to have a project that she was working on. She was either decorating our home, or doing something for the Sunday school class which she taught…. She wanted to be public school teacher, but couldn’t.

MARK: Why couldn’t she become a teacher?

LYNNE: My mother is 92 years old. When she was 13, her mother passed away. Being the oldest child in the family, it was her job to help raise her siblings. Also, as she was living in the south at that time (Tennessee), I’m sure it wouldn’t have been either encouraged or supported, given that she was an African American female.

MARK: What’s the best advice that your mother ever gave you?

LYNNE: Treat people the way you want to be treated and the way you want people to treat your children… because what goes around, comes back around to you or yours.

MARK: What was it about your dad that made the kids in the neighborhood seek him out?

LYNNE: I think it’s because he was friendly, easy to talk to, and funny. And there was no judgement. I know that’s what I liked… besides him being my superhero.

20160106_162907-4MARK: What brought your folks to Michigan? [right:Lynne’s mother and father.]

LYNNE: Both of my parents came to Detroit for work. My father came up from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to work at General Motors. And my mother came up from Tennessee.

MARK: How did your father get the job at GM? Did he have friends from Baton Rouge that had already made the trip north and found work here?

LYNNE: Yes, he had friends who had come before.

MARK: How did your mother and father meet?

LYNNE: My mother’s cousin set them up.

MARK: Did your parents talk with you about their decisions to move north? I’ve read about the Great Migration, during which an estimated 6 million African Americans left the rural south to make lives in the north, but I don’t recall ever having spoken with anyone about having made that journey, and I’m curious to know how easy or difficult of a decision it was…

LYNNE: They never really spoke to me much about that. What they did say was people came up in groups and stayed with people who had already made the move… family and friends.

MARK: I asked earlier how your were most like your parents… How are you least like then?

LYNNE: My parents are from a generation that didn’t share their life stories openly. They kept a lot to themselves. Me, I have no problems sharing, hoping it will help someone else.

MARK: What is it about yourself that you find yourself sharing most often?

LYNNE: When people find out that I’m an art teacher, they want to know if I create my own art. And they’ll ask what type of art I like. In the last five years, I haven’t really done anything of my own, though. I’m always creating, making things for my students, our home, our friends, but it’s been awhile since I’ve made art. I use to, but it became difficult to keep it up while teaching. For me to create art, not only do I need the space, time but also the peace of mind. I used to try during Summer breaks, but it just wasn’t enough time, especially with all of the other family things.

settlesMARK: When you were creating art of your own, what was your medium of choice?

LYNNE: I like to create 3-dimensional art, so I worked in sculpture and ceramics.

MARK: What kind of kid were you?

LYNNE: I was quiet, shy and creative.

MARK: What form did your creativity take as a child?

LYNNE: LIke I said before, I had asthma as a child, so there were days when I couldn’t go out and play. So I would sit in the house and make dolls. I’d make them from almost anything that I could find.

MARK: Do you still have any of the dolls?

LYNNE: No, my mother kept them for a while, but got rid of them when I moved out to go to college.

MARK: Do you remember any of the dolls specifically? Can you describe one of them to us?

LYNNE: Their bodies and hair were made out of either masking tape, newspaper, or tissue paper. I would draw the faces on, and details of the clothes.

MARK: What was the best meal you ever ate?

LYNNE: Wow, I’m now sure. I like food.

MARK: OK, if not the “best” meal, can you tell us about a memorable meal in your past?

LYNNE: When I was in college, my husband at the time and I had the privilege to have lunch in New York City with Maulana Karenga, the founder of the African centered holiday “Kwanzaa.” The holiday, if you’re unfamiliar with it, focuses on seven principles to live your life by… Two of them are Nia and Imani. And we had named our oldest daughter Nia Imani.

MARK: What do you remember of your lunch with Dr. Karenga?

LYNNE: The three of us spoke about education, and the work that we were doing in the community. Most of the conversation was between my then husband and Dr. Karenga. He congratulated my husband on earning his PhD, and, then, together, we let him know that we had named our oldest daughter after two of the principles of Kwanzaa. He was honored, and told us to keep up the good work.

MARK: Where did you go to college?

LYNNE: Howard University.

MARK: What made you choose Howard?

LYNNE: I choose Washington D.C. first, then Howard. And I chose both for the same reason. I read that both were good for African Americans.

MARK: What was your experience as a young African American woman growing up in Michigan?

LYNNE: My parents tried to shielded us from a lot, and they did. My childhood was good. I had what I needed, and we got to do special things, like take trips. I remember some racist moments that I didn’t quite understand fully then…

While driving down south with my parents, I remember us wanting to stop and go to the restroom, and my dad saying that we couldn’t stop at a certain one because it was “for whites only”.

In school, I wanted to wear my hair in an afro, and my mother said that I couldn’t, because she was afraid that I would get hurt.

I also remember my best friend, who was a white girl, and I were going to get an apartment together. It was perfect for our budget, and we liked the location and everything, but they turned us down because I was black. I was really shocked.

MARK: Were you politically active as a young woman? And, if so, do you remember the moment when you decided to get involved?

LYNNE: I was never really political. I was more social, trying to do things in the community, like I am now, to help children move forward using art.

MARK: What do you think of the current conversations on race that are taking place in America? Are you at all encouraged?

LYNNE: I think that we’ve made a lot of progress, but we still have a long way to go. We’re living in a very historical period. That is scary, yet necessary. I believe what Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “No one is free until we all are free.”

MARK: What brought you to Ypsi?

LYNNE: A teaching job. Plus my husband already worked in Ann Arbor.

MARK: And you teach at Ypsi High, correct?

LYNNE: Yes, I’m the art teacher.

MARK: Where did you move to Ypsilanti from?

LYNNE: Westland, Michigan.

MARK: How does Ypsi compare to Westland?

LYNNE: I like Westland, but they don’t have a downtown. I like small town downtowns.

FB_IMG_1452118069659MARK: What did you know about Ypsi before moving here?

LYNNE: Not a lot. I knew that Eastern Michigan University was here, but that’s about it. I’d never been here. I’d just passed through.

MARK: Did you visit before deciding to move here? Did you consider living in other communities in the area?

LYNNE: I did visit. We drove around, checked out neighbourhoods, went downtown. I liked the historical characteristics and cultural diversity.

MARK: Why did you decide to become a teacher?

LYNNE: While in school, my counselor told me I should major in art education… that way I’d always have a job. So that’s what I did. I was offered a job teaching elementary art, and I enjoyed it, so I stayed… I really wanted to work in the education department of a museum, though.

MARK: I’m sure it seemed like you’d “always have a job” at the time, but we’ve seen a number of districts slashing their art budgets these past several years, which, I think we probably agree, is incredibly shortsighted…

LYNNE: All children need art. It’s not about trying to make them artists. The value goes beyond that.

MARK: Any regrets about not pursuing museum work?

LYNNE: No regrets. I like getting to know the students and their families.

MARK: How has the teaching profession changed since you first started your career?

LYNNE: Wow. There have been a lot of changes; the way students behave in the classroom, parent involvement, workload… We do so much more paperwork, and there’s less time for teaching. And we have more students in the classroom. Overall there are just more responsibilities.

MARK: What’s changed about student behavior, and what do you attribute it to?

LYNNE: Morals and values have changed in society. Many value things more than people now… That’s just my opinion.

MARK: How, in your opinion, do we go about changing that?

LYNNE: I really don’t know. We have to do some re-education, but that’s going to be hard when so much that we see around us tells us different. As a teacher, I can tell them one thing, and they walk right outside of school, and it’s different.

MARK: I met you several months ago, when you were working on the HP Jacobs mural with your students. Was that the first mural you’d ever worked on with students?

LYNNE: Yes, it was the first one I’ve done out in the community. I did a mural of my own years ago, though. And I’d done one at another school with students, but that one wasn’t in the community. It was in the school.

MARK: How did you come to know local historian Matt Siegfried, and how did that first mural come about?

LYNNE: Being new to Ypsilanti, I wanted to learn more. The students told me that there was no history here that related to them. I knew that couldn’t be true. So, while on the internet, I found out about a lecture being given by Matt on the subject of local African-American history. I decided to go. I learned a lot during that first lecture, and, when he later offered a walking tout, I went on that as well. During that tour, someone in the group asked Matt what else would he’d like to do with all of this information. And he said, “I’d like to see murals about this history.” Well, I mentioned that I was an art teacher at the high school, and that’s how it all started. We started meeting and planning. I eventually introduced the project to the students, and Matt came in and taught them the history. And, because it was just too much for me to do alone, given my classroom commitments, we brought in another artist, Doug Jones. Because he had worked with some of the students before, and had a background in working with art on the community level, it was a perfect fit. Then, as a group, we decided on the first theme based upon what Matt had taught us. [below: Ypsi’s new HP Jacobs mural.]

JacobsMuralMS

MARK: Did I hear correctly that a new mural might be in the works?

LYNNE: Yes, since the completion of the last mural, we’ve had such a positive response from the community that we’ve had several location offers and theme suggestions. The students have begun to organize themselves, and that’s exactly what we wanted them to do. They’ve really taken ownership of it…. It’s our goal to do at least three. Our plans are to work on the next one inside, over this winter months, and then mount it in the spring. And we’d like to do the third one like we did the HP Jacob’s mural, painting it outside.

MARK: And did I hear that you’ve begun fundraising?

LYNNE: Yes, we’ve set up a Gofundme page for donations. Laura Bien, who took videos and photos of our last mural, made a promotional fundraising video for us. You can see it on YouTube. [The video is embedded at the bottom of this page.]

MARK: What would you like to accomplish in the next five years?

LYNNE: I’m not totally sure, but I like the direction in which my life is moving now… working with youth, creating art in the community. Maybe it’s because I am getting older, but I feel like I’m moving into a role that’s more behind the scenes, and I’m liking that.

MARK: When we talked on the radio show, you were incredibly enthusiastic about the students you’ve been working with in Ypsi. What is it about the kids in your classes at Ypsi High that you like?

LYNNE: I really like working with teenagers, and I’m happy to be working with this group. They’re considered underdogs, and that makes me want to work harder for them. I want to help build them up, and remind them that they matter, and that they can be successful. That was my motivation in starting the mural project. And it’s still my motivation… I was so pleased, and just very emotional, over the way you and so many others of the community turned out in support of them at the unveiling. That show of love and support is what has them organizing themselves now. It’s my belief that, “When you feel good about yourself, you do good”.

[Still wondering why people are moving to Ypsi? Check out the Ypsilanti Immigration Interview archive.]

Posted in History, Special Projects, The Saturday Six Pack, Ypsilanti | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

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