Mark Maynard | optimism

When all that’s left is fear and hate

By Mark | August 23, 2018

Since news broke a few days ago that the President’s former personal attorney had pled guilty to numerous felonies, naming the President himself as a co-conspirator, things haven’t been looking so good for the Trump administration. And Donald Trump has responded just like the organized crime boss that we know him to be, talking openly […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Africa, Africanisation of the plane, Afriforum, anti-immigrant, apartheid, arming teachers, Barack Obama, Betsy DeVos, Civil War, co-conspirator, conspiracy theory, David Duke, Donald Trump, flipping, FOX News, guns in schools, hope, incels, Ku Klux Klan, Mike Peinovich, Mike Pompeo, Mollie Tibbetts, MS-13, murder, Newt Gingrich, Obama, Omarosa Manigault Newman, Patrick Gaspard, race baiting, race war, racial animus, racism, rats, Richard Nixon, Rudy Giuliani, South Africa, tax cuts, tax reform, the canary in the cole mine, turning state's evidence, unindicted co-conspirator, white genocide, white nationalism | 24 Comments

Election Day live blog

By Mark | November 8, 2016

8:00 AM… A friend asked what we should tell our children this morning. This was my response. 7:30 AM… Best case scenario. People who have been waiting on the sidelines with information on Trump, thinking that he’d likely lose, now come forward. This results in bipartisan impeachment proceedings. A weakened Pence administration is contained by […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged 2016, bullying, Canada, Christmas, community organizing, despair, Detroit Party Marching Band, Donald Trump, D’Real Graham, elections, end times, extinction, Hillary Clinton, impeachment, Jill Stein, Jim Bakker, Katrease Stafford, Make America Great Again, pessimism, post-truth, Presidential politics, protest vote, reality television, revolution, Ruth Kraut, Sidetrack, the end of the world, truth, violence, voting, WEMU | 468 Comments

On the optimism and pity of the non-Americans passing us by

By Mark | February 27, 2012

My friend Pete and I eat lunch together a few times a month. Pete, who’s an academic, tells me of his travels to fascinating places like Malawi and Sweden, where he’s either conducting field research on the spread of parasitic diseases, or sharing his findings with leaders in the field of world health, and I […]

Posted in Mark's Life, Observations, Uncategorized | Also tagged American flag lapel pins, back pain, best places to live, Canada, Department of Education, education reform, environmental protection, Gini coefficient, growth, immigration, income inequality, infant mortality, investing in the future, life expectancy, Malawi, Mitt Romney, neo-feudalism, no child left behind, parasites, Pete Larson, Presidential politics, public education, republican primary, RIck Santorum, Stockholm, Sweden, tax the rich, teaching for the test, the future of American cities, The Greatest Canadian, the state of the world, Tim Hortons, Tommy Douglas, Toronto, urban development, Vancouver, wind power, windmills | 14 Comments

Ypsi/Abor Exit Interview: Thomas Kula

By Mark | September 26, 2011

When I think about the kind of people we need more of in Ypsi, there are probably five or six distinct archetypes that come to mind. If I ever went to the trouble of naming them, one would certainly be called “The Kula” in honor of the man we’re talking to here tonight. Thomas moved […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Detroit, sex, Shadow Art Fair, Special Projects, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 14th century upper Scandinavian underwater basket weaving, Ames, banners, bike polo, Bike Ypsi, Chicago, Corner brewery, creativity, Des Moines, DIY, domestic partner benefits, drag, Drake University, Elbow Deep, exit interviews, Ferndale, fitting in, football, gay, gay demonization, gay rights, growing up around pigs, growing up rurally, HARC, hatred of football Saturdays, Hipsilanti, House of Chanel, interviews, Iowa, Iowa State University, Late Night Thinking, make it happen, Motor City Pride, New York City, Ozone House, pigs, post-industrial era, public transportation, Spur Studios, Thomas Kula, Thompson Block, Ugly Mug, University of Michigan, Water Street, why people move to Ypsilanti, Woodruff, Woodruff's, Ypsi Food Co-op, Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews, Ypsitucky Jamboree, zines | 24 Comments

Relying on Jim Kunstler to bring me down to earth

By Mark | March 16, 2011

When I catch myself smiling at a stranger, sniffing a flower, or doing something else which might give the impression that I’m anything other than completely fatalistic, I run home and check in with my favorite prophet of doom, Jim “fuck you” Kunstler. Well, this evening, when watching video of young people in Lansing discussing […]

Posted in Mark's Life, Observations, Other, Uncategorized | Also tagged collective bargaining, democracy protests, food shortages, gas rationing, global climate change, Jim Kunstler, Libya, Middle East, Muammar Gaddafi, oil, pessimism, Struggle Against Authoritarian Rule in the Middle East, the growing gap between rich and poor, The Long Emergency, threats to the middle class, unions | 16 Comments

Tag Archives: optimism

When all that’s left is fear and hate

Election Day live blog

On the optimism and pity of the non-Americans passing us by

Ypsi/Abor Exit Interview: Thomas Kula

Relying on Jim Kunstler to bring me down to earth

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