Tag Archives: commencement

So, what’s the Washtenaw Community Action Team?

By Mark | October 17, 2011

I’d heard mention of the Washtenaw Community Action Team over the past several months or so, but I never really took the time to figure out how they fit into the local ecosystem of left-leaning political organizations, or what their objectives were. Fortunately, however, I had the occasion this past weekend to exchange a few […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Corporate Crime, History, Michigan, Politics, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 40 hour work week, AAUP, Adam Warner, AFL-CIO, America Votes Labor Unity Fund, astroturf, banks, bridges, child labor, civil disobedience, collective bargaining, corporatocracy, Flint, Graduate Employees Organization, Great Flint Sit Down Strike, Gregg Barak, Howard Bunsis, Ian Robinson, infrastructure, Inside Job, Jane Slaughter, Koch brothers, labor, labor history, Martin Luther King, Maureen Taylor, Mehmet Yaya, Occupy Ann Arbor, Occupy Detroit, Occupy Wall Street, OWS, protests, Public Act 4, Right to Teach, right-to-work, Solidarity Forever, Stadium Bridge, Stand Against Snyder, Tom Weisskopf, UM Graduate Research Assistants, UMHS nurses, unions, Wall Street, Washtenaw Community Action Team, WCAT, We Are One, We Are The People, Wisconsin, With Babies and Banners: A Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade | 10 Comments

R.I.P. Steve Jobs 1955-2011

By Mark | October 5, 2011

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination that we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s […]

Posted in Observations, Other | Also tagged adoption, another famous person has died, Apple, brilliant speeches, cancer, entrepreneurship, find what you love, fonts, McIntosh, on facing death, philosophy, Pixar, Stanford, Steve Jobs, thoughts on life, typography, Whole Earth Catalog | 27 Comments

Protests planned for Wednesday in Michigan

By Mark | March 15, 2011

As I mentioned yesterday, several hundred people are planning to gather on the Diag tomorrow at 1:00 to voice their disapproval over Governor Rick Snyder being named U-M’s Spring commencement speaker. While it promises to be an exciting event, it now looks as though the real action tomorrow is going to be in Lansing, where […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Politics | Also tagged call to action, collective bargaining, Emergency Financial Manager’s Act, Lansing, Michael Moore, protests, Rick Snyder, shared sacrifice, speaking truth to power, tax breaks, tax the rich, union busting, University of Michigan | 21 Comments

Rick Snyder to speak at U-M’s April 30 commencement

By Mark | March 14, 2011

When I graduated from U-M, Hillary Clinton was our commencement speaker. I don’t recall there being protesters outside, but she wasn’t a popular choice. There was quite a bit of debate on campus after the initial announcement, and, then, during her speech, which was delivered in the U-M stadium, I remember that there was a […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged 1993, abortion, Anderson Cooper, April 30, Bill Ford Jr., Chris Armstrong, financial martial law, Hillary Clinton, petitions, rallies, Rick Durance, Rick Snyder, Spike Lee, Stephen Ross, The Diag, University of Michigan, Vernon Ehlers | 39 Comments

Obama in the Big House

By Mark | May 2, 2010

Obama woke me up Saturday morning. The helicopter taking him from Detroit Metro Airport to Ann Arbor, where he was scheduled to deliver the University of Michigan commencement address, went right over my house, rattling the windows, and making the dog go apoplectic. A friend had offered me commencement tickets, but I was lazy. I […]