What follows is our official exit interview with Merritt Bankes, who just recently left Ypsilanti, headed for Tecumseh. MARK: Can you please state your full name for the record? MERRITT: Merritt Bankes. MARK: OK, let’s start at the beginning… What kind of kid were you? MERRITT: Feral! A free-range chicken! [Laughs.] I didn’t even wear […]
Tag Archives: We The People Growers Association
Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interview: Merritt Bankes
Posted in Michigan, Special Projects, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti Also tagged Argus Farm Stop, art school, Chicago, Columbia College, Diet for a New America, drugs, Elbow Room, EMU, environmental activism, environmental protection, exit interviews, feral child, Green Room, Janet Kaufman, John Robbins, loneliness, Merritt Bankes, music, onions, poaching, porch shows, porches, priorities, self harm, substance abuse, Sustainability, Tecumseh, Tom Waits, vegetarianism, Woodruff's, Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews 4 Comments
Melvin Parson and the campaign to create a world-class urban farm in Ypsilanti
Melvin Parson and I have been working off an on for the past two years on an interview for this site. It began as an Ypsilanti Immigration Interview, and, over time, as we dug deeper into his work with We The People Growers Association, evolved into something more about his dream of establishing a world-class […]
Posted in Agriculture, Ann Arbor, Detroit, entrepreneurism, Environment, Food, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti Also tagged 13th, addiction, Ann Arbor, Avalon Housing, Black Beauty, community gardens, culinary arts, Dawn Farm, Detroit, Doug Coombe, drugs, Edible Avalon, Emanuel Tyus, food hub, fundraising, Great Migration, Henry Ford, Henry Ford Museum, heroin, inequality, Kerrytown, Kerrytown Farmers Market, local food, local food production, matching grants, Melvin Parson, Michigan Department of Corrections, Parkridge Homes, Port Huron, prison industry, prison reform, Shaka Senghor, social justice, St. Joseph Mercy, substance abuse, the hiring on ex-fellons, urban farming, Washtenaw County Jail, We The People Opportunity Center, white flight, Wizard of Oz, YCS, Ypsi immigration interview, Ypsilanti Community Schools 9 Comments