By Mark | September 13, 2020
It’s great that Joe Biden — who, despite what you might have heard from Donald Trump, is not hiding in his basement — appears to be pulling ahead in the polls as we’re entering the last 50 days of the race. We cannot afford, however, to take anything for granted. It’s difficult to believe, given […]
Posted in Mark's Life, Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged 2020, 2020 election, border wall, call to action, China, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Freeland, get out the vote, health insurance, Joe Biden, national debt, Obamacare, Ohio, pandemic, political contributions, public health, tariff, trade war, volunteering |
By Mark | September 6, 2014
After nearly 25 years in Ypsi, the empowered little girl you see below will soon be breaking free. Please join me in wishing Christine Laughren safe travels as she embarks on the next chapter of her life, far away from the American midwest… Here’s her official exit interview. MARK: What first brought you to Ypsi? […]
Posted in Special Projects, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Africa, Andrew Cipolla, Back to Ypsilanti, Carpenter Road, Christine Laughren, Dan DuChene, Dom Bakery, Eastern Echo, ebola, Elbow Room, EMU, exit interviews, FLY Children's Art Center, Ford Lake, Frog Island, frogs, From Michigan to Ghana with Love, Ghana, Growing Hope, Heritage Media, Highland, iSPY, karaoke, Lincoln Consolidated, Mark Norris, Pakmode Media, Peace Corps, Pure Michigan, Ridgewood Apartments, Shadow Art Fair, sprawl, Visit Ypsilanti, water tower, Ypsi Citizen, Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews, Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Ypsilanti Citizen, Ypsilanti Frog Killing Coalition, Ypsilanti Township |
By Mark | September 26, 2012
One of our regular contributors, my old friend Pete Larson, who many of you had the pleasure of seeing perform at this site’s 10th anniversary party a few weeks ago, is going to be speaking in Ann Arbor on Thursday about the financialization of agricultural commodities. I took the occasion to ask him a few […]
Posted in Agriculture, Economics | Also tagged agricultural commodities, big ag, College Truth Tour, commoditization, Cuba, deregulation, derivatives, Dodd-Frank, economic crash, financial industry, financial reform, food crisis, food prices, healthy food access, hedge funds, Herman Cain, Howard Stein, human rights, Joe Stiglitz, New World Ecology and Agriculture Group, NWEAG, Pete Larson, pork, Richard Levins, Science For the People, scientists, speculation, stock market, supply and demand, sustainable agriculture, University of Michigan, Wall Street |
By Mark | December 5, 2011
[Quite a bit has changed since Linette and I had Clementine seven and a half years ago. For one, people no longer just drop by with food. Now, friends and neighbors band together and coordinate their activities through sites like Mealbaby, so that you aren’t confronted with the nightmare of three lasagnas showing up on […]
Posted in Food, Mark's Life, Other, Uncategorized | Also tagged advice, Arlo, Blogbaby, gardening, Gene Kim, Mealbaby, planting seeds, plants |
I received word through several sources that Portland State University adjunct professor Toby Hemenway, the author of Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, will be speaking next weekend in Ann Arbor. He will be speaking at the Ann Arbor Public Library on Friday, May 21, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM, and he will […]
Posted in Agriculture, Ann Arbor, Environment, Food, Sustainability | Also tagged biodiversity, carbon sequestering, Designing and Installing a Food Forest, events, food forests, forest gardens, fruit trees, Gaia's Garden, How Permaculture Can Save Humanity and the Earth but not Civilization, Jared Diamond, Kris Kaul, Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Monica King, natural soil building, nut trees, permaculture, Permaculture Solutions for City and Suburb, Portland State University, SE Michigan Permaculture Guild, Sustainability, sustainable communities, Toby Hemenway, Transition Town, Transition Ypsilanti, urban ecovillages, vegetables, woodland garden |