Category Archives: History

Making way for the further mallification of Ann Arbor, this month Eastern Accents, Herb David, and Mahek all cease operations

By Mark | March 13, 2013

Cities are living things. They grow older, like all of us, and they change. They evolve, or they die. I get that. I’ve grudgingly come to accept that the best things in life are transient. That realization doesn’t make it any easier, however, to accept it when good things, that genuinely make me happy, go [...]

Also posted in Ann Arbor, Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Uncategorized | Tagged Blue Wolf Grill, coining new words and phrases, Discount Records, Dunkin' Donuts, Eastern Accents, franchises, Harvest Kitchen, Helen Harding, Herb David, Iggy Pop, Jean Henry, Lisa Waud, Mahek, mallification, national chains, Pete Larson, Pita Pita, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Qiznos, retail in Ann Arbor, Sava Lelcaj, Shaman Drum, Small & Mighty, Small and Mighty, Tuptim | 38 Comments

Agenda 21… Are America’s city planners in on the United Nations plot to enslave us, and force us onto bicycles?

By Mark | November 26, 2012

There’s only one thing people on the far right hate more than the United Nations, and that’s the United Nations setting international guidelines for sustainable development. I learned this a few days ago, while listening to a special episode of Glenn Beck’s radio program about a secret UN initiative to deal with the looming threats [...]

Also posted in Environment, Observations, Other, Politics, Predictions, Rants, Uncategorized | Tagged 1984, 1992, Agenda 21, Alabama, ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, anti-environment, Arizona, bike lanes, Chip Rogers, city planning, competing visions for the future of America, concentration camps, Conference on Environment and Development, conspiracy theories, corporatocracy, Delphi, deregulation, dyptopia, Earth Summit, Emmeline, fear mongering, Field Searcy, Georgia, Georgia State Senate, Glenn Beck, global climate change, Global Warming, Harriet Parke, mass transit, mind control, paranoia, rationing, regulation, Republican National Committee, Republican platform, RNC, sprawl, suburbs, survival seeds, tea party, the collapse of the Republican party, the future of America, The Handmaid's Tale, the hijacking of the Republican party, the threat of Socialism, traffic circles, United Nations, urban sprawl | 26 Comments

Tom Hayden talks with me about Ann Arbor in the late 1950s, his time at the Michigan Daily, the concept of participatory democracy, and the circumstances which gave rise to the Port Huron Statement

By Mark | October 30, 2012

Earlier this evening, I had the occasion to speak with activist and author Tom Hayden about his role in the drafting of the Port Huron Statement, the circumstances which gave rise to this widely influential manifesto of the New Left, and his evolution from student journalist to impassioned activist. Hayden, who is often credited with [...]

Also posted in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Uncategorized | Tagged 1957, 1960's, 1961, activism, Alan Haber, Bob Ross, Chandler Davis, Clement Markert, Cold War, DNC, freedom rides, House Unamerican Activities Committee, Jack Kerouac, JFK, journalism, kids today, labor, labor movement, Mark Nickerson, Michigan Daily, New Left, On the Road, participatory democracy, Port Huron Statement, SDS, share croppers, Sharon Jeffrey, sit-ins, SNCC, student activism, Students for a Democratic Society, Tennessee, the progressive agenda, Tom Hayden, UAW, unions, University of Michigan, Voice, voting rights | 20 Comments

Little Winsor in Ypsilanti

By Mark | October 15, 2012

Today marks the 107th anniversary of former-Yopsilantian Winsor McCay’s surrealist, illustrated masterpiece Little Nemo in Slumberland, and, to mark the occasion, the folks at Google have rolled out an incredible new, interactive header, which you can see in action in the following video. The following is from the Christian Science Monitor. The Google homepage today [...]

Also posted in Art and Culture, Michigan, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged animation, Arlo, Captain Nemo, Cleary Business College, comics, dime museums, Disney, dream interpretation, dream sequence, Dreamland Theater, dreams, Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend, Eastern Michigan University, famous people, Gertie the Dinosaur, Google Doodles, John Goodison, Laura Bien, Little Nemo, Little Nemo in Slumberland, marketing, Michigan State Normal School, Naia Venturi, New York Herald, P.T. Barnum, rarebit, Sackett and Wiggin’s Wonderland, serendipity, Spring Lake, stained glass, surrealism, vaudeville, Winsor McCay, Ypsilanti Commercial | 7 Comments

On Nikola Tesla’s birthday, I think it’s important to remember that he invented the world’s first cotton candy machine…

By Mark | July 10, 2012

…Unfortunately, the device never made it in the marketplace, as it was as big as a fucking house. I made this stupid joke to someone today, after stumbling across the above image of Tesla, who, had he not died at the hand of Edison, would have turned 156 today. Unlike most of my stupid jokes, [...]