What follow are three short video segments, each of which are preceded by my rough notes on the material covered within.

VIDEO ONE: The drafting of the Port Huron Statement

In this video… Alan notes that SDS had been around for three years prior to the drafting of the Port Huron Statement. The process, he says, wasn’t terribly contentious. There was a fellow from the Communist Party youth group who showed up, but they didn’t let him vote. Alan believes there were 43 people. Others, he says, maintain that there were as many as 70. Tom Hayden is working on a book about the drafting of the Port Huron Statment. It should be out shortly… We also talk more about his being fired by the League of Industrial Democracy, for being too soft on Communism, and for pursuing a movement model, instead of a trade union model of organizing. In April of 1961, he was rehired, and began work on the planning of their 1962 convention. It was at a meeting at the Guild House in Ann Arbor, where SDS members had gathered to plan the convention, that someone said, “Let’s make a manifesto.” (Other groups, as Haber notes, were publishing manifestos at the time.) So, they put the word out, in December of 1961, asking people from all of the SDS chapters for their input. Then, later, they compiled all of the suggestions that they had received in a newsletter, which was sent out, along with a request for further feedback. And, in this way, the document began to take shape. Tom Hayden volunteered to assemble all of the material, as he’d wanted to write a manifesto. The final document was completed in June of 1962… The group, according to Haber, had no idea, just ten days prior to leaving for Port Huron, where they’d be meeting to finalize the document. At the last minute, though, the mother of an SDS member, who had ties to the United Auto Workers, offered use of the organization’s camp in Port Huron. Once there, the 43 to 70 attendees divided into groups, and addressed the various segments of the document. Haber was on the section on Communism, which was the most controversial. (His LID handlers wanted them to be more overtly anti-communist.)… When the LID officials saw the final document, they were pissed off, and tried to kill it. Haber and company were essentially biting the hand that fed them. (In addition to not taking a hard line on Communism, they also made the case that unions were deserving of some amount of blame.) And, he got fired again. LID officials had the lock changed on the office in New York. He picked the lock, though, and moved back in… A major theme, as expressed in the document, was the need to force the so-called Dixiecrats out of office. Their goal, according to Haber, was to fix the Democratic party, which they wanted to rebuild around liberal, progressive values. And, they had people in Congess encouraging them. Some in the House and Senate wanted for them to keep pushing for progressive change, in hopes that it would lead to the the removal of obstructionist Dixiecrats, and the passage of Civil Rights legislation. In fact, he was in D.C., discussing the Port Huron Statement with friendly legislators, when he got the call from LID. They wanted him to repudiate the document, which he refused to do. And, as a result, SDS and LID spent the summer in negotiations. (It was during this time that he was able to pick the lock on their office and move back in.) Eventually the LID changed their mind, and let them stick around for a couple of more years. Their office, however, moved from New York to Chicago. (He was making $75 a week at the time.)… We end our conversation by discussing the retrospective on the Port Huron Statement that U-M professor Howard Brick is planning to commemorate the 50th anniverary.

VIDEO TWO: U-M’s retrospective on the Port Huron Statement, and the need for something more

I ask Haber about the retrospective event being planned at U-M for the 50th anniversary of the Port Huron Statement, and whether he still believes, as he’s stated to me previously, that, while an academic retrospective is nice, what he’d prefer to have is an event that’s revolutionary prospective. He indicates that Brick, since he and I have last spoken, has agreed to make the event more forward looking. The event was going to be called, “Port Huron at 50.” Now it’s going to be, “The New Insurgency: The Port Huron Statement Then and Now.” So, there will be opportunities to look forward. We still need something else, though, says Haber. We need a multi-day working session, on the actual anniversary of the Port Huron gathering, during which people can explore the relevant questions of the day. (Brick’s event won’t be until October – several months after the actual anniversary.) The findings of this group, accord to Haber, could then be further refined by the attendees of the event at U-M in October… Speaking of changes made by Brick, Haber also notes that the professor has reconfigured panels, making one strictly about the women of SDS. At this point in the conversation, Haber and I talk about the role of women in the early days of SDS. While Haber concedes that the language of the Port Huron Statement was sexist, as was everything else written at the time, he believes that the women of SDS contributed a great deal, even though all of their words flowed though the pen of Tom Haden. He doesn’t deny, however, that sometimes they had a difficult time having their voices heard. He notes that, at an SDS meeting in Champaign, in 1965, the woman, at one point, went off to meet by themselves. This, he says, was happening elsewhere, as well. He notes that the women of SNCC were also coming to the realization that the political is personal, and that women’s rights were worth fighting for as well.

VIDEO THREE: The drafting of an new manifesto

Haber intends to send the word out to everyone who have been invited to the U-M event, asking for their contributions to this new manifesto, just has he did 50 years ago, when he sent work to the SDS branches, asking for their input… He first floated this idea two years ago, at a SNCC meeting in Chapel Hill. Unfortunately, things have been slow to get off the the ground. But, Haber doesn’t seem concerned. As he points out, ten days before they gathered to work on the Port Huron Statement, they didn’t know who would be coming, or where they would be convening. And, as he says, he’s flexible. Even if only twelve people show up, he says, and they don’t develop an entire manifesto, at least they’ll be moving things forward. The best case scenario, however, is that a manifesto is completed, and it’s taken to the big upcoming Occupy event in Philadelphia, and shared with the participants… As for where we meet, Haber is agreeable to exploring options in both Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. (He’s looking into securing space at both EMU and Hathaway’s Hideaway in Ann Arbor.) Now, he plans to start getting the word out to the Grey Panthers, the folks at WCAT, members of the newly reformed SDS, the various Occupy groups, and anyone else who might have constructive ideas as to how we might move forward… He also says that he may dust off the work that he did years ago, as part of his campaign for the Union Party… We discuss the fact that, 50 years ago, he had legislative support, but now, given the state of politics in the United States, it’s likely that wouldn’t. He acknowledges that this initiative will have to be outside of the system. The Democratic party, in his opinion, needs to be left in favor of an independent movement… We discuss the fact that, thanks to the Supreme Court, a single-payer health care system may be a possibility once again… Finally, we talk about how, in the 60′s, people didn’t have a plan concerning the transition of power. They thought about revolution, but they didn’t envision what the transition would look like if/when it happened. That, he says, is what’s appealing about his “Union” plan. He’d worked out not only the vision, but a plan as to how we’d transition from here to there. And he thinks that might be a useful conversation to have…

Those of you who are interested in helping Alan realize his vision of creating a new manifesto, can reach him at: megiddo@umich.edu. A public meeting will be taking place tonight (Tuesday), and I’m sure that he’d love to have representatives from SDS, Occupy Ypsilanti, Occupy U-M, Occupy Patriarchy, local progressive community groups, WCAT, and organized labor, among others.

A long time ago, in the early days of blogging, back before most of you were born, I used to host events designed to lure painfully-akward bloggers out of their parents’ basements, so that they might drink beer and attempt to mate with their readers. This reoccurring event was called Beer with Bloggers, and, from what I can recall, it was popular. For some reason, though, I stopped doing them… Well, I’ve recently been corresponding with a wildly successful blogger by they name of Chris Savage, and he’s been trying to get me to dust the concept off, and, once again, walk among the anonymous folks out there, like you, who so terrify me. (Chris is the man behind Eclectablog. If his name sounds familiar, it’s probably because Rachel Maddow is constantly talking about him.) So, in a few weeks, Chris and I, and some other bloggers, will be at the Corner Brewery, drinking beer, answering your questions, and, when the opportunity arises, stealing your ideas. As of right now, we’ve only put the word out to a few folks, but it looks like we’ll be joined by they likes of Ben from Damn Arbor, Anne from The Savage Feast, and Christine from Blogging for Michigan, to name a few. (While they haven’t confirmed, I’ve also been talking with Juan Cole, from Informed Comment, and Hillary Cherry from the Hamtramck Star.) So, if you’ve got a complaint that you’d like to submit to one of us in person, here’s the chance you’ve been waiting for.

And, I should add, this event is open to all bloggers, no matter what they might cover, or where they might be from. So, if you know of someone with a blog, please feel free to pass along this information, and encourage them to come, and invite their readers. (Anyone is welcome to use the graphic above, if they’d like to, or create one of their own, promoting the event.)

Blogging is a super-isolating pastime, and, I think I speak for all of the bloggers who will be attending, when I say that it’s good, on occasion, to be reminded of the fact that we have readers who, even though they may not leave comments, appreciate what we do. So, if you can come out, please do. We’d love to meet you.

And, speaking of folks who don’t leave comments, I should add that lurkers are welcome, as are trolls.

See you on the 31st.

VIDEO ONE: Ann Arbor in the 1950s, McCarthyism, and the creation of the U-M Political Issues Club

Haber talks of moving to Ann Arbor from East Lansing at six weeks old, entering U-M in 1954, and turning to activism his freshman year, in the wake of U-M’s firing of three faculty members (Chandler Davis, Mark Nickerson, and Clement Markert) who refused to cooperate with the House Unamerican Activities Committee. As he states, “McCarthyism ruled” at the time, and the left was underground. At the behest of older students, he formed a political discussion group on campus, called the Political Issues Club (PIC). (Philosophy professor Arnold Kaufman was the group’s faculty advisor. He taught the course “Communism, Fascism and Democracy,” and was the person responsible, according to Haber, for SDS’s promotion of “participatory democracy” as a central tenent.) PIC would eventually evolved into the U-M chapter of SDS in 1959. [note: We also chat about a far right professor from that period who I happen to have studied with, by the name of Stephen Tonsor.] The PIC’s offices were next to those of the Inter-Cooperative Council, and that’s where, according to Haber, he learned how to operate a mimeograph machine, and build a sustainable organization. Surprisingly, Haber mentions that he wasn’t harassed by University officials. They left him alone, he says, as he was local, and his father was a well respected Economics professor at the University. He says that he had, “lots of cover.” Haber’s father, who would eventually become the Dean of LSA at U-M, worked in the FDR White House, and helped draft the Social Security Act. (Haber’s father also, as the Director of Welfare in Michigan, in the mid-30′s, made the decision to provide welfare payments to the families of the individuals involved in the historic Flint Sit-Down Strike, allowing the strike to continue, when it otherwise would have been starved out of existence.) Haber’s father, while supportive of his son’s activities, felt as though change could be made within the system, and encouraged his son to work within the existing power structure… At this point, the discussion turns to militance, the effectiveness of violence, and his eventual turn away from SDS, due to what he perceived as the organization’s lack of strategic long-term planning. By ’69, he said, “the movement was not interested in long-term thinking.” They weren’t interested in community development, poverty, and education, he said. They wanted immediate action. And that’s when he decided to become a woodworker, forming a collective called The Splinter Group in Berkley, California.

VIDEO TWO: On bomb-building, and the launching of SDS

By the end of the 60′s it was lunacy, according to Haber. No one knew how to act. People felt as though they had to do something. They couldn’t just sit by and do nothing, with the insanity of the Vietnam war becoming more and more apparent. Some people got militant… Haber, when he first went to college, studied chemistry. And, at some point, he experimented with bomb-making. He went to Barton Hills golf corse, at midnight, one night, and set off a pipe bomb in an oak tree. (He was testing a 20-minute fuse that he’d developed.) According to Haber, he looked at the tree, which he’d blown to pieces, and decided that it wasn’t a direction in which he was willing to go. He says that he was moved by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and their focus on “Soul power.” We also discuss armed self-defense. He says that he had guns, but sent them off to Cuba or somewhere, when he decided that he didn’t want to have them anymore. Violence has no role, in his opinion. I ask if MLK would have been as successful without Malcolm X,who preached armed self-defense, and he reminds me that Malcolm never blew anything up, and that, later in life, the two were actually converging… We discuss the black bloc. He acknowledges the need to ventilate rage, but feels that it’s dysfunctional in a tactical sense. We need to make friends, he says, and you can’t do that when you break a window, and someone else has to come in and clean it up. On the other hand, he says, he appreciates Derrick Jensen. “Revolution without executions,” he says, is his philosophy… We discuss the Weather Underground. He says some of it appeals to his “Yippie sensibilities.” We discuss Abbie Hoffman, and the necessity of humor. It’s good to shame our opponents. Mooning them is part of the game, he says. We need to get the spectators to smile. “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” He says he’s got a cup that says that in the other room, and we laugh… Was SDS successful? Were there missed opportunities? Are there lessons that could be applied toward the Occupy movement? “We didn’t study enough,” he says. We could have done better, Haber says of SDS, but we’re in the cultural memory of the world, and that’s no small task. We got “participatory democracy” into the vernacular. And we modeled standing up to the machine… It would have happened anyhow, though, he says… We then talk about his getting fired from League for Industrial Democracy (LID). LID had hired him to be their Student Field Secretary, after he’d worked successfully with them to pull off an event in Ann Arbor on discrimination in the North. The event brought together labor, church groups, SNCC, SDS and others in 1960… LID wanted to incorporate the Political Issues Club into their student group – the Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID). Haber says, however, that he and others didn’t like the idea. Instead, SDS was born, with LID as the primary sponsor. He dropped out of school and went to New York, when he worked for LID. At the same time, he was elected as the first president of SDS. “I worked for the boss, and I was president of the people.” LID ended up firing him twice. They didn’t like that he opened SDS up to everyone, including the Stalinists, and wasn’t terribly interested in collecting dues. Their model, he says, was one of a traditional trade union, whereas he was more interested in mobilizing community. This led to conflicts. He got fired, but stayed in his office, refusing to leave… “If there were dues, I’d eat,” he said. (He’d open the organization’s mail, while he was living in the office.)

VIDEO THREE: Manifestos, speaker bans at U-M, etc…

I ask how palpable the feeling was on U-M’s campus in the late-50′s that they were living in a time of historic change. Most people, he said, were oblivious to it, just living their lives. There were some, though, in the class of ’59, who came to college “ready to go.” They gravitated toward the PIC and the conference on discrimination in the North that he was planning… At this same time, he ran for Student Government Council at U-M, with a platform that, among other things, challenged the University’s ban on unapproved speakers. (Speakers had to be pre-approved by a committee.) He had tried to get Paul Robeson to sing on campus, for instance, and the University wouldn’t approve it. Finally, he got Robeson a show at a Baptist church in Detroit. In the process of trying to get him a venue in Ann Arbor, Haber received a letter on Nazi stationary, warning him about bringing a “nigger commie” into the City. It was signed by the German American Bund of Ann Arbor… We discuss the New SDS, which launched in 2006, and the young people of today. Is there reason to be optimistic? Is there empathy among today’s students? EMU is more receptive, he says. The median family income of U-M students is $180,000, he notes. “These are rich kids.” But, consciousness is wider now. Even if people are robot-like, just in college to climb the corporate ladder, they know what’s going on. They know that the cherry crops are dying, and polar bears are drowning. If there was a chance for a change, they’d go for it. We’re connected and diverse, and that presents an opportunity. There’s a “capacity of consciousness” but, until there’s a vision, people will follow the “existing opportunity structure”… I ask about Occupy, noting that, unlike SDS, the movement doesn’t have visible leaders, and, thus far, has resisted codifying their beliefs. Haber corrects me. SDS took three years to get to the point where they could draft the Port Huron Statement, he says. Their second year, they had a conference, and the third year they were putting pen to paper. “Occupy is in its infancy.” They’re having a meeting in Philadelphia at the end of June, though. They could be following the same trajectory. And, we could do the same thing here, in Ypsi/Arbor. We could start asking the questions. What do we believe? What’s the new paradigm that’s arising? We have global communications now, and, for the first time ever, four generations of activists, working together. There is a lot of opportunity…

There’s more, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. These videos are taking several hours each to download… Here’s a teaser, though. Tomorrow we’ll discuss the possibility of a local gathering to draft a manifesto for our generation, in the spirit of the Port Huron Statement.

MARK: Some time ago, as I understand it, you became interested in the health consequences associated with typical American and Indian diets. And, being a researcher by training, you began to employ the scientific method, looking for way to solve the problem…

SWAROOP: I have been cooking for nearly 21 years. About three years ago, though, I started monitoring, very closely, what goes into my cooking (such as oils, processed sugar, and processed grains), and what my family eats (what percent of our diet consists of fresh greens, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, etc). This all began when I was diagnosed with type II diabetes. It was around this time that I started reading more on food and nutrition, and, the more I read, the more it made logical sense to me that food is directly linked to many health conditions. I am a convert now to the chiastic adage created by the father of western medicine, Hippocrates, who said, “let food be thy medicine and thy medicine your food”.

What struck me more than anything else were the trends in obesity, especially in kids. It’s scary that kids in this generation may be more sick than their parents, suffering from type II diabetes, and cardiovascular problems, which could be easily averted by the application of simple rules in eating (whole grains or seeds, some greens, vegetables and fruits, and less meat). What amazes me is that, while the data is all around us, most of us are very “reactive” — until we are malaised by an action that we’ve taken, we do not think about its effect/outcome. That is one reason why prevention has not taken off well, either in people’s thinking, or with regard to government funding.

Childhood obesity, in the US, is on a dramatic rise. Over the past two or three decades, there has been a 300% increase in adolescents who suffer from obesity, which is a major risk factor for a number of conditions, such as high cholesterol, hypertension, orthopedic problems, depression, and type II diabetes. Look at the numbers: one-in-three kids in the United States is overweight or obese, and one-in-five children have at least one of the conditions listed above. Once again, ours may be the first generation where kids will have lesser life expectancy than their parents. We need to think about this very seriously.

Also, look at obesity in adults. 64% of our population is overweight/obese, and lifestyle diseases (such as cardiovascular problems and diabetes) are a major “killer”. These diseases kill nearly half a million people every year – more people than tobacco – and millions suffer (33.5% percent American have high blood pressure, and 25.8 million people are diabetic). And, the most intriguing part of this is that these sufferings and deaths are “easily” preventable with simple solutions.

MARK: What made you think that you might be able to address the problem? I mean, seeing the problem is one thing, but something made you think, “I might be able to fix this,” right? What made you think that you might be able to solve this riddle that people have been struggling with for so long… how to get people to change their behavior and eat good, nutritious food that won’t kill them?

SWAROOP: My own experience. I am type II diabetic who was obese, and is still borderline overweight. I have controlled my diabetes by changing to a whole grain and natural food diet. I don’t believe that I can “fix” the problem, though. Each person has to find his or her own solution to fix it. What I can do is to provide a platform where people can have an access to whole grain-based, and nutrionally-dense food. The second thing that I can do, based on my own experience, is to train and educate. On this front, I will be delivering lectures to kids and their parents at Ann Arbor Public Schools beginning next year. The understanding that humans are biological machines that need “good fuel”, just like any other manmade machine, is lacking. In my thinking, this is partly due to the fact that biological machines do not instantly fail when improper “fuel/lubricants” are ingested. Since there are no immediate adverse reactions to high-calorie, low-nutrition diets, these actions are perpetuated.



MARK: Tell us about the grain cake that you’ve invented. What makes it special?

SWAROOP: I remember, while growing up, I was told to eat from different food groups in order to get better nutrition. At Hut-K, I made a flat bread we call Back2Roots, with 15 different kind of whole grains (all in grain form, except for the wheat and the African millet flour). It is unique in a number of ways. It provides all of the essential amino acids that we need in our diet, and it is high in fiber/complex carbohydrates. It is also rich in minerals and vitamins coming from the different grains. Plus, it has good natural fats, that from blended almonds, walnuts, peanuts and coconuts. And, we use natural ingredients, such as greens, herbs, spices and vegetables, to make it a very delectable culinary experience.


MARK: Would it be safe to say that the storefront on Packard was a test? What I mean by that is, you’d created these products in your home, you’d tried them out on your family, you’d seen positive health improvements in your own life, and now you wanted to see if you could convince others to go on this journey with you, right? Well, what have you learned? Has the test been a success?

SWAROOP: Yes, it is my laboratory for creating food, and my “guinea pigs” have been my kids, wife and friends.

There two advantages to these kinds of food. When there are grains, carbohydrates are in complex form, and the their digestion is slow. So, there is no “insulin shock” with this kind of food, and, also, there is no “post food lethargy”. This is the perfect food for lunch at work, as one tends to remain as active after eating it, as in “pre-lunch state”. So, there is no loss of productivity due to food.

The reaction from customers has been mixed — many customers are very excited about the food when I talk to them about the healthy ingredients (how I have swapped sugars for fresh and dried fruits, substituted baking for frying when possible, and how I stealthily add raw fresh greens), while there are some who don’t care… My getting off medication as a result of eating this food and exercising is motivational for many, and may, I imagine, influence a change in their eating habits. Further, through my food, I can make a dent in thinking process of those who do not hear my lectures, which are coming soon…

MARK: Indian street food, at least locally, seems to be taking off as a segment of the restaurant market. Nehee’s in Canton is always packed, and now they’ve expanded into two other spin-out ventures. The food is delicious, but it’s not exactly healthy. Your products, while delicious, are a bit more complicated… I don’t know how else to say it… The flavors are complex. They don’t offer immediate gratification in the same way. Is that fair to say? Assuming you agree, how do you convince people to put in the work? How do you go about educating their palates?

SWAROOP: This is a difficult question for me. Neehee’s is nice to place to go and eat, and I do want to compare their food with mine.

I do not agree that there is no gratification in my food. The taste has been my priority and is also the first step in our food development process. I have done my homework on this and if you look at our chaats, they are probably the best you can find. In the core chaat category, you will NOT find a better panipuri, dahi sev puri or papdi chaat. This is my challenge to you. And with our food, bonus is nutrition; high nutrition per calorie.

MARK: I didn’t say that there was no gratification. I enjoy your food very much. It’s delicious. I was just saying that some other street food, that is deep fried, full of fat, and heavily processed, may have more of an immediate appeal to someone accustomed to fast food. I was curious as to how you’d win those people over.

SWAROOP: It is difficult to educate customer’s palate in the restaurant industry, partly because one eats at the restaurant once in a while. Most of the times, either you like it or not. Thus my topmost priority was taste. Once I got that right, I started to play around addition of greens, vegetables, fruits and dry fruits.


MARK: Given what you’ve learned so far, what’s next? Might we expect a cook book? Will you be packaging your bread, and selling it through other stores? Could there be another restaurant launched in India?

SWAROOP: Yes there is a book cooking in my mind. I have drafted chapters and categories. This is my free time fun. My current priority is to develop an education and training platform for kids wherein I can make a dent in the “state of health of our future generation”.

Regarding packaging, a number of investors have approached me, but I am still testing. I am currently trying this with my friends and family living close by (hand delivered) and far away (by shipping). The “Back II Roots” roti is an ideal “working breakfast” food. The ancient grain roti is made from 15 whole grains and is full of complex carbohydrates. Thus it is digested slowly which aids body to keep on going for many hours without a “refill”. Probably, by the end of this year, if everything go right for us, there will be “Hut-K Nutrilicious” frozen food.

There were two initial queries coming from India for starting Hut-K there but nothing in immediate future.



In addition to the location at 3200 Packard, Hut-K also has a presence at Mark’s Carts in Ann Arbor.

The most interesting thing to come from it, from my perspective, was the possibility that, one day, we might be able to broadcast our annual, 24-hour session live, unedited, from the studio of KZSU. I think that could be incredibly painful for their listeners, but incredibly cool for us… I really like the idea of our being able to take calls, and song ideas, from listeners, whenever we get bored, or fall victim to one of our repeated creative slumps. I suppose, however, there could be a downside, as it would demystify the legendary one-day-a-year band to some extent. I think that it would probably be worth it, though… especially if it led to a live, 24-hour vinyl release that included several hours of us just snoring in our cots.

No bread 2 KZSU Phone Interview 5-5-12 MPT by markmaynard11

Among the songs referenced, in case you’d like to hear them, are Chiasmus and Don’t Excarnate Your Kids, from our most recent record.

MARK: Where had you been living? And why did you decide to move to Ypsi now? Was it the higher taxes that attracted you?

LINDSAY: I have lots of Ypsi pride. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ve been living in Ann Arbor, at the University Townhouses, since August 2011. I moved back to The Mitten from Columbus, Ohio. My best friend of almost 12 years offered to share her space with me, so I could grow some babies, and we could support each other. Things have changed with both of our lives since I gave birth, though, and I was invited to rent a two-bedroom basement apartment at the Yoder homestead in Ypsilanti. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up! Their space is similar to the homestead that I had been building in Ohio. More importantly, it will be the first time for my five year old son and me to have our own space since I separated from his dad. I’ve been going through this life transition since January 2011, and I’m ready to settle! My life is a happy mess!

MARK: There’s no shame in having lived in Ann Arbor. It happens to the best of us. The important thing is that you left when an opportunity presented itself… Seriously, though… There’s a lot to like about Ann Arbor. What, in your opinion, is the very best thing about Ann Arbor?

LINDSAY: The transportation system and the absence of Wal-Mart.

MARK: By that same logic, is the best thing about Ypsi the absence of black plague and robots that feed on human eyeballs?

LINDSAY: Where are those robots?! Really, Ann Arbor is great in much the same way that Ypsi is, but it just feels too big and too corporate for me. I love the small town local pride vibe in Ypsi.

MARK: I’m not familiar with the Yoder Homestead. Is it a survivalist enclave? Are the stockpiles of weapons?

LINDSAY: They’re steps ahead of most of us when it comes to surviving The Apocalypse. Grace and Jeff are armed with two amazing little humans, two dogs, lots of chickens, lots of raised vegetable beds, a root cellar filled with preserved food, a greenhouse, etc. The weapons are of life, and this is the foundation of Polliwog Farm… They still need to purchase a gun.

MARK: So, are the Yoder Homestead and Plliwog Farm one in the same?

LINDSAY: Yes. The homestead is the family, and the farm is the business. They are very full folks!

MARK: What brought you to Michigan in the first place?

LINDSAY: I first came to Michigan in 2000 to study at EMU. I took a year off school in 2003 and lived with my folks back in C-Bus. In 2004, I moved back to Michigan to finish school. Then, I left again in 2006, to live with my boyfriend. We separated, but we have five year old son. Now, I’m back to stay (hopefully) for longer than three years.

MARK: You mention that you lived with your friend in Ann Arbor these last several months, while you were incubating babies. It’s OK if you don’t want to, but, since you brought up the pregnancy, do you want to mention how all of that went down? I don’t mean to pry, but I think it’s interesting, and I think that others might benefit from hearing about your decision.

LINDSAY: My first reaction to a positive pregnancy test was shock, since I had taken the morning after pill. It was not an option for me to keep the babies. I knew that I did not want more children. The biological father did not want children either. After a series of events to try to induce miscarriage, including being denied at my first abortion appointment, I started to think of adoption. The seed was planted by my housemates – a lesbian couple. I started to ponder the idea, and the stars were all aligned. Another friend knew of a couple, and, after some hesitation, we were introduced. We met at the park on Prospect and hit it off really well. I had another abortion appointment a week after that visit. That was a really hard week to live through, as I looked for signs to tell me what I should do. My sister and I talked, and she mentioned that perhaps the signs had already shown to me. Once I chose to go down that road, I was committed. I knew what I would have wanted from the situation to begin with, which helped make it so successful. I didn’t enter it knowing how it would look or work out, but I knew what I wanted. The couple were flexible, and so respectful, and I was sure to not take more than they offered. I got to have an empowering home birth experience, and they got a family. Everyone involved received the gift of being part of the story.

MARK: Again, it’s not a questions that you have to answer, but I heard that you shared your story on the Oxgyn Network. What was that like?

LINDSAY: It was completely bizarre to me. I don’t consider myself an artist, and yet there I was, giving my creation story away to the biggest industry. I felt like it compromised my beliefs, but I think it shows that I’m willing to be intimate and vulnerable on an interpersonal level, just not in a traditionally public way… so, I had to have someone tell the story for me with their big cameras. Reality TV is staged, but the questions I had to answer for the interviews were genuine to some degree. I felt slightly coerced a couple of times, but I was firm about not saying anything that I didn’t actually feel. There was one day of filming me going about my daily routine, and then three different interview sessions. I also had to provide diary videos, which were the absolute weirdest things… sitting in front of a computer and talking to it, while looking at yourself. I hope it is okay for me to tell this much. The contract is scary… I appreciate how amazing the producers were with me given how difficult I must have been with all my questioning and hesitation.

MARK: If someone had just one day to spend it Ypsi, and they had no money whatsoever, what would you suggest that they do?

LINDSAY: Go to the Pleasuredome, find Thom Elliot, and ask him to show you how to have a good time. That guy rules! And he is super nice too… I find myself walking through the graveyard, or near the river a lot too. Oh, and I would suggest going to the Historical Museum on Huron and looking through the file cabinets to research all the old homes. I don’t know if you still can, but I did that once, years ago, and there are files for each registered house, with information about the families that lived in them, and sometimes pictures too. Also, the museum itself is packed with lots of artifacts. Depending on the season, you could forage for edibles, then trade them for some beer from someone sitting on their front porch. Ypsilanti is so friendly you won’t go wrong just hanging around chatting with whomever you run into. Lots of good stories to be shared!

MARK: There must be two Thom Elliots in town. The one that I know isn’t a “good time” kind of guy. He just wants to talk about obscure, long-dead philosophers.

LINDSAY: He loves to pick up trash around Depot Town, and, if you’re nice enough, he would probably get you food while you let him diagnose you! I have a lot of respect for that guy. He’s one of the first people I met in this town, at Vinyl Joe’s. His honesty is humbling!

MARK: Now, let’s say you met someone with a million dollars, who, for some reason, had to invest it all in Ypsilanti. How would you suggest that this person spend it?

LINDSAY: You shouldn’t let me ever be in charge of money unless you want to lose it.

MARK: Yeah, but this person has to spend it, right? What would you tell her to do with it? Should she give it to the Dreamland Theater so that they can build puppet museum? Should she set up a scholarship program so that Ypsi kids can attend college for free? Should she buy Water Street and turn it into an edible forest? Or, should she just buy everyone in town roller skates and have a huge roller disco party?

LINDSAY: So you may have mind fucked me with this question. Essentially you are asking me to realize my passions again, while I am at an all time low figuring them out. Sigh. Thank You. First I’d suggest giving some to the community of folks that I respect for their contributions to this great little town (that should be its own country), like Natalie and Kristen with Bike Ypsi or the Ypsilanti Co-op, the Growing Hope Community, Little Lake Learning Community, Trillium Midwifery, Dreamland Theater, Patrick Elkins Shadow Puppetry, James Mann of The Ypsilanti Historical Society, The Ypsilanti Farmers Market and Food Pantries, SOS Community Services, Ozone House Drop In, and surely many more organizations! I’d love to see market stands built all around the city sidewalks. No organization to run them. I’d just have them there as an open invitation for folks to bring whatever they want to sell, or trade, or share. I heard from a friend about a street artist in New Orleans that just sat with her typewriter, available to type up anyone’s story for them. I know it is naive and idealistic, but, if I could dream big and keep it local, I would love to see our town have more street artists. I think Ypsi is a place where people want to, and do, support the small businesses. I don’t want to think about the logistics just yet, and I don’t know how business is for this town, but I support them with my wallet. I’d also like to build a roller skating rink and a one screen movie theater like this place in Columbus, OH, and start a bike co-op and pedi-cabbing business. I think I am taking you TOO SERIOUSLY!! HA!

MARK: What’s the weirdest thing ever to happen to you in Ypsilanti?

LINDSAY: I’ve pondered this question, and, each story that I think of, I realize that I was the weird one.

MARK: OK, so what’s the weirdest thing you’ve done in Ypsilanti?

LINDSAY: So I had my first apartment on Adams St, living in the basement with my dear friend, Leggz. The other half of the apartment was home to this guy Roy who was an Ypsi drunk. He had this lady friend, Judy, who was also an Ypsi drunk. The Ypsi drunks are really awesome folks. I was friendly with them, as I am with most people… and what happened next is a story I am used to repeating. I had bad boundaries with these two, plus I was in school for women studies stuff, and quite the avenger for protecting all women. So, she came to me frantic one day, and said Roy was going to kill her. I don’t know if it would be possible, though, as the guy was always shaking, slurring and so sloppy. Apparently he was doing some drugs, and she said something about it to him. She cared about him! So, in a matter of minutes, I had all of her stuff moved into my place while he was gone to the store. Piles and piles of clothes and boxes of stuff that she never unpacked. Next, we camped out and just waited. Waited for him to come and try to kill her. I was all for protecting this lady, but I was nervous I might get taken out too, for being in the way. He eventually came, and was yelling for her to come out. All I remember next is moving her into some other man’s house far away. Sorry if that was anti-climatic. Most of my stories are… I also helped care for a prairie dog pet while its owner was on vacation. And, I’m doing this interview, which is especially weird! And, meeting Patrick Elkins, who has brought so much weird joy to my life. Define weird!

MARK: What do you do for work? You don’t have to tell us where you work, specifically, but I’m curious as to what you do.

LINDSAY: I am working for a small cleaning business based out of YPSI, run by my friend, Nature Maid – WON’T BREAK IT OR TAKE IT! I may have made up that motto, but I would like to shamelessly promote it now. Check out the website. I really love my job. It’s like, as my friend Grace explains, “chop wood, carry water”… good hard work that satisfies and sustains me.

MARK: What, if anything, do you miss about Columbus?

LINDSAY: I’m not far enough from Ohio to miss anything. Specifically, in Columbus, I do miss certain folks, friends, food places and my dad.

MARK: When you say that you’re not far enough away, do you mean in a geographic sense, or an emotional sense?

LINDSAY: Geographic!

MARK: What should people know about Ben Miller?

LINDSAY: Ben Miller is a think tank of love. The kind of love that embraces and accepts and requires you to be respectful. He LOVES the library and YPSI LIVING! He has so many passions, and really great ideas, and he is living his dream. He could tell you more about himself so ask him out on a date!

Dear friends of Ypsi Schools,

You may know by now that the School Board passed a revised DEP that called for the closure of one elementary school in 2013, as well as massive cuts in Special Ed, staffing, athletics, transportation, and the closure of Estabrook pool. This DEP is only the latest in a series of cuts that the District has been forced to make as a result of financial difficulties (largely) created by structural underfunding at the State level. I think it’s pretty clear after last night’s meeting that the District is in CRISIS mode, and is doing everything it can to stay afloat and avoid an Emergency Financial Manager.

Some parents have decided to come together to talk about what this means for the future of our schools. We have graciously been offered the space to do so by parents at Ypsilanti Middle School. I know this is short notice, but their PTO is meeting tomorrow, Wednesday (May 9) until 7:30 after which time we can come in and have a meeting about the state of the district and the role of the community in envisioning a sustainable educational system in Ypsilanti.

We will meet in the media center at Ypsilanti Middle School at 7:30. Turn right when you enter the building and the media center is just down the hall on the right.

Please forward this email to your parent/community contacts.

[note: Our previous discussion on the Deficit Elimination Plan can be found here.]

In thinking about what I’d write about today’s vote on the City income tax, I started digging through the MarkMaynard.com archives, and found this piece that I’d posted November 2, 2007, when our community last considered the passage of an income tax. While much has changed since then, and a few of the players have switched sides, I found much of it to still be incredibly relevant. So, with that in mind, I thought that I’d share it again.

As you all know, our city has been caught up in a very contentious debate over the income tax we’ll be voting on this November 6. I haven’t decided yet how I plan to vote. There are persuasive arguments on both sides. And, to some degree, I don’t think it really matters. By that, I mean, I suspect that people will vote against it at this time, and then maybe, over time, come to agree that there are services worth paying more for. I think this would have happened regardless of the campaigns being waged on either side right now. No one wants to vote to tax themselves more, especially in an economy such as we’re in now, and people don’t generally value services until they’re gone. So, this post isn’t about the tax per-se. It’s about something that I think is more important in the long run. It’s about transparency in local government and treating Ypsilanti voters with the respect they deserve.

In my capacity as Co-Chair of the group YpsiVotes, a local non-partisan community dialogue group, I recently delivered a list of questions to representatives of both the pro-tax Campaign for Ypsilanti’s Future, and the anti-tax Stop the City Income Tax. (The list of seven questions can be found here.) They were carefully crafted by our committee after talking with several people in the community, and they are, by the accounts of those we’ve shared them with thus far on both sides of the debate, fair and balanced. They were specifically designed to get behind the rhetoric – on both sides – and to the heart of the matter at hand. Our hope was that both sides would answer them, and then we could run their answers side-by-side in the local press so that people could essentially compare “apples to apples” and make their own decisions. That, at least, was the plan. Our local Ypsi paper, the “Courier” agreed to reprint the questions and answers, the “Ann Arbor News” indicated that they would cover the results, and we had people ready to start printing and distributing copies for those in the community who might not have caught it on-line or in the paper. The problem is, only one side of the debate responded by the deadline we had set.

As it was clear that the Stop City Income Tax group, run by City Councilman Brian Robb, former Mayoral candidate Steve Pierce, and former Ypsilanti Mayor Pete Murdock, had received the request, the only explanation I could come up with was that it was their strategy not to engage. As the measure, by all accounts, is likely to fail, I suppose they didn’t see a need to. Their side had outspent, out-organized and out-maneuvered the pro-tax side by orders of magnitude. They, at this point, must have been thinking that engaging on the issue was only likely to cost them votes. (My perception was confirmed when, quite by coincidence, two anti-tax folks sat down behind me at Big Boy one morning and began discussing their non-engagement strategy.) While I understand it on a strategic level, I find it difficult to respect this position. I, quite frankly, find it anti-democratic, and, at least on the part of Councilman Robb, to be in violation of the promise that he made to his supporters in the last election “to bring transparency to local government.”

I wrote to Councilman Robb, whom I voted for in the last election, and told him this: I told him that I, as a constituent, was disappointed in him. He was on vacation, but invited me to call him. I did, and we talked for some time. I respect Brian, and I like having him on Council. He has proven to be a tenacious advocate for the people of Ypsilanti, and I truly appreciate that he invests the time necessary to follow the money and really understand the issues. Brian confirmed that the anti-tax side had no intention of answering the questions put forward by YpsiVotes. He then went on to tell me three things that he’d been told by someone in SCIT that were not true. He had been told 1) that their people had contacted the Courier and YpsiVotes did not have an agreement for them to reprint the questions and their answers, 2) that I told Steve Pierce at some point in the past that I was pro-tax, and 3) that an SCIT member had attempted to reach me to discuss the questions. As I trust Brian, the only explanation that I can come up with is that he was lied to by someone within his group who did not want to answer the YpsiVotes questions, and was trying to come up with reasons not to do so. I sent Brian a copy of the letter I’d received from the “Courier” stating that they did in fact agree to reprint the answers from both groups, and stated unequivocally that I had never spoken with Steve Pierce about how I intended to vote on this issue.

Brian said that our questions were “hard,” but fair. And, he acknowledged the fact that the citizens of Ypsilanti deserved the answers. By the end of our conversation, he had agreed to get me his answers to the seven questions “by Tuesday or Wednesday.” We had missed the deadline for the “Courier,” but I was still confident that, if I could get Brain’s responses by Wednesday, I could get the answers of both sides laid out side by side, photocopied and distributed through neighborhood associations, churches, and coffee shops by the weekend. Well, it is now Friday night, and Brian, in spite of my many attempts, has still to respond to all the questions. (He has posted the answers to a few on his website.) When asked, he tells me that he’s answering them as fast as he can. I hate to suggest such a thing, because I truly like Brian, but the evidence would seem to indicate that he’s being deliberately slow in order to keep us from distributing materials in the community over the weekend. I really don’t see any other explanation. They have had the 7 questions for a week and a half, and, as Brian acknowledged, none of the questions came out of left field.

I should preface this last comment by saying that I do believe there are compelling reasons not to support the income tax. I’m told there are companies in Ypsilanti that have said that they would relocate if an income tax were instituted. For a struggling community like ours, we cannot afford to lose a single job that we already have, and we cannot, especially as we try to lure a developer to our Water Street development project, come across as anti-business. These, in my opinion, are legitimate reasons to vote “no” on November 6. There are, however, ramifications to voting “no,” and I think that people should know what they are so that they can make informed decisions. I’ve been party to many discussions on the tax these past several weeks, and, invariably, there’s an exchange where someone on the pro-tax side mentions that the CIty’s solvency plan calls our letting go of several police officers and firefighters should the tax not pass. Then, also invariably, someone on the anti-tax side will explain the claim away as “fear mongering.” They’ll say that the City is inefficiently managed and they’ll suggest there’s still fat to be cut. They’ll imply that police, fire and EMS service will not be impacted, but, when asked for details as to what specifically will be cut in order to deliver a balanced budget, they excuse themselves from the conversation. I feel that people deserve to know the truth. They need to know, if the tax does not pass, what it’s going to mean to them in terms of police response times, bus service, EMS availability, etc. The citizens of Ypsilanti deserve to know the facts from both sides. (I’d like to point out that the folks on the other side of the fence were asked difficult questions as well. They were asked about the impact of the tax on poor families, the fact that, even if the tax passes, we’re projected to run out of money again, etc.)

Again, I am not advocating on behalf of the tax. As I said above, I think it will fail regardless, but I felt that I had to say something about the way the anti-tax campaign was being run. I don’t appreciate these kinds of campaigns when they’re being waged at the federal level by Karl Rove and I don’t appreciate them when they’re waged locally by my friends and neighbors. And, the worst part is, I’m afraid that when the measure is ultimately defeated, as it most surely will be, that the men behind it will be emboldened to use these tactics in the future. I think that’s a very bad thing for local democracy. Maybe it makes me a democratic sap, but I still think there are more important things than just winning.

People on both sides of the so-called “debate,” however, should be embarrassed by the way they’ve behaved. When I think of the positive things this energy could have been put toward it makes me feel very sad for the city of Ypsilanti.

This time, of course, the tactics were a bit different, but the strategy was the same… And, again, it worked.

Hopefully, now that the votes have been cast, the folks who fought so hard not to avoid open, honest debate on the future of our community, will come forward with their ideas as to how we can fend off the Emergency Manager that awaits us, as we teeter on the edge of the budget abyss, contemplating draconian cuts to City services. As the folks at the Chamber just recently said, now it’s time for Steve Pierce and the Stop City Income Tax folks to step up, and “provide their own solutions.” It’s easy in today’s economy to rally support for lower taxes. The hard part is coming up with a plan that, in spite of decreased funding, keeps public safety officers on the street, busses running, schools open and the community thriving… I know it’s only been five years, but one would hope they’d have something to share by now.

This was said to me a few hours ago, as I was driving Clementine home from school, where she’d been working with her classmates on the construction of a bridge. I’m guessing that saws were involved.