Category Archives: Ypsilanti

We keep hearing that COVID doesn’t discriminate, but the data shows that, here in Washtenaw County, it’s disproportionately the black residents of Ypsilanti who are suffering

By Mark | April 5, 2020

As of yesterday at 3:00 PM, 14,225 residents of Michigan were known to have contracted COVID-19, with 540 of those cases being in Washtenaw County. [At the same time, there had been 540 deaths in Michigan from COVID-19, with 8 of those having been in Wasthenaw County.] Of those currently hospitalized in Washtenaw County, the […]

Also posted in Detroit, Health, Michigan, Uncategorized | Tagged asthma, coronavirus, COVID-19, density, diabetes, environmental racism, food access, health care reform, health disparities, heart disease, Hyborian Warlord, pandemic, racism, service industry, social distancing, structural racism, universal health care, Washtenaw County Health Department, work from home | 188 Comments

The River Street Grab-n-Go Community Pantry

By Mark | April 1, 2020

A few days ago, in a coordinated effort not just to lower the bar for Donald Trump, but actually burry it, some on the right began floating the ridiculous idea that any American president capable of facing our current circumstances, and coming out of it with fewer than 200,000 dead, should be resoundingly hailed as […]

Also posted in Health, Uncategorized | Tagged 315 River Street, Benghazi, Bill Mitchell, community pantry, coronavirus, COVID-19, Donald Trump, D’Real Graham, food assistance, grab-n-go, lowering the bar, pandemic, pantry, public health, River Street | 49 Comments

Documenting Ypsilanti in the time of COVID-19

By Mark | March 25, 2020

Back in 2017, I got the idea that we should designate a weekend to collectively documenting our lives in Ypsilanti. I called the initiative #DocumentYpsi, and the results were pretty awesome. In fact, I was 100% committed, given the response, to make sure that it became an annual thing. But, like so many other things, […]

Also posted in Art and Culture, Health, History | Tagged #DocumentYpsi, 1918, 1918 flu, 1925, Alfred Wilkinson Wilson, Ann Arbor, archives, automobiles, Bentley Historical Library, Bill Nickels, coronavirus, COVID-19, Depot Town, desolation, Enchanted Florist, Enrico Caruso, going out of business, Gretchen Whitmer, Kim Clarke, lockdown, masks, photography, public health, ROTC, scrapbook, shelter in place, social distancing, Student Army Training Corps, Unicorn Supply and Feed, University of Michigan, Ypsi history, Ypsilanti Historical Society | 5 Comments

IFFY: The Independent Film Festival Ypsilanti

By Mark | February 23, 2020

For three days this April, Ypsilanti’s Riverside Arts Center will be host to a new film festival. The festival, called IFFY (Independent Film Festival Ypsilanti), is the brainchild of local filmmakers Donald Harrison and Martin Thoburn, who, as you may recall, pulled a few strings this last summer and brought the traveling version of the […]

Also posted in Art and Culture | Tagged 24 Hour Shootout, 48-hour film project, afro-futurism, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Chris Sandon, Cinemasports, Clermont Lounge, Deja Vu, Donald Harrison, film festival, Hafsah Mijinyawa, Hump, IFFY, independent film, Independent Film Festival Ypsilanti, international film, Juliet Hinely, Martin Thoburn, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Riverside Arts Center, Shadow Art Fair, Welcome to Commie High | 8 Comments

Talking about Highland Cemetery’s Starkweather Chapel, and the history of Ypsilanti’s death industry

By Mark | December 18, 2019

The Starkweather Chapel in Ypsilanti’s Highland Cemetery, for those of you who may not have noticed, has been undergoing some much needed renovation work this past year. Here, with more on the history of the building, and the preservation work that’s been done thus far, is a conversation I just had with lifelong Ypsilanti resident […]