Tag Archives: activism

Conan Smith says he and his fellow Washtenaw County Commissioners aren’t prepared to vote on merging Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti’s Convention and Visitors Bureaus; Will Potter on how the threat of terrorism has been used to quiet activists post 9/11; and Edgar Cayce making beautiful music …on episode 26 of the Saturday Six Pack

By Mark | September 14, 2015

This Wednesday evening, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners is expected to vote on the future of the Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (YACVB). According to most folks, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that our elected officials will vote to close the Ypsilanti bureau and shift their $1.17 million annual budget to […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Civil Liberties, Politics, The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged AAACVB, ag gag laws, Alicia Ping, Andy LaBarre, Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Conan Smith, Edgar Cayce, Edgar Cayce and His Guitar, FBI, fear, fear tactics, Free Speech, Green Is The New Red, Michael Flores, Ronnie Peterson, Ruth Ann Jamnick, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, Will Potter, Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau | 43 Comments

Hurons no more. EMU does the right thing and agrees to give up their Native American mascot for a second… and hopefully final… time.

By Mark | August 11, 2015

A few months ago, when I talked with representatives from Eastern Michigan University’s Native American Student Organization (NASO) on The Saturday Six Pack, it didn’t sound as though negotiations with the administration were going well. University leadership, from their perspective, had made up their mind to bring back the “Huron” mascot after over 20 years, […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Chris Sutton, Eastern Michigan University, EMU, Kim Schatzel, mascots, Michelle Lietz, NASO, native american, Native American Student Organization, redface, Susan Martin | 33 Comments

If you’re going to be compared to a terrorist, it might as well be a brilliant one

By Mark | September 30, 2013

On Sunday afternoon, I was standing in the rain in Ann Arbor, by myself, with a half-eaten cupcake in my hand, when a friend approached me, and greeted me with a question that I’d never been asked before. “How’d you like being compared to the Unabomber?” Having no idea what in the hell he was […]

Posted in Mark's Life, Uncategorized | Also tagged A2GastroBoy, Alan Haber, Barenaked Ladies, Boots Riley, cupcake, Derrick Jensen, doppelgänger, injuries that Mark has suffered, isolation, James V. McConnell, Jeffrey Dahmer, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., meet a blogger, Miss Piggy, MLK, non-violence, Omari Rush, people Mark looks like, people who look kind of like Mark, SDS, Steve Page, technology, Ted Kaczynski, terrorism, the human condition, threat of violence, Unabomber, University of Michigan, violence, violence vs non-violence | 15 Comments

Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interview: Johnny Lupinacci

By Mark | August 25, 2013

A few weeks ago, shortly after earning earning his PhD from Eastern Michigan University, local Ypsilanti activist John Lupinacci packed up all his belongings and headed west to begin his new life as a academic. Fortunately, though, I was able to track him down and force him to submit to an exit interview… Here are […]

Posted in Detroit, Special Projects, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged adjunct faculty, Alfredo Martini, anarchy, anti-consumerism, beer, Beezy's, black bloc, blue-collar scholar, Bona Sera, Bona Sera Cafe, Boots Riley, Brite Idea Tattoo, Cafe Ollie, Capitalism, coffee, Coffee Bean, community, community schools, Cross Street, curriculum, Derrick Jensen, Dreamland Theater, Eastern Michigan University, education reform, EMU, exit interviews, grimy, Growing Hope, Hamtramck, Huron River, Ian MacKaye, Idaho, Jeffree St. John, Johnny Lupinacci, living systems, Moscow, Moscow Food Co-op, mutual aid, North Huron, Occupy Ypsilanti, One Word Cafe, organizing, paranoia, Paul Horvath, Plymouth, political organizing, Pub 13, Pullman, rebellion, Riverside Arts Center, Riverside Park, Sean Fitzgerald, Smarty Catz, Social Foundations of Education, social justice, Target, teaching, Thomas Blondi Salon, Ugly Mug, urban chickens, urban farming, Washington State, Washington State University, Washington Street, wine, Woodruff's, working class, yoga, Ypsi Food Co-op, Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews, Zapatismo | 11 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 […]