More Athens
Do a search on “Athens of the Midwest.” The top ten hits: Madison, Madison, Madison, Madison, Iowa City, Madison, Madison, Columbus, Iowa City…and A2.
And it also turns up this Freep column speculating on what Detroit and the rest of the state would be like if the U of M hadn’t moved from Detroit. Most succinctly: “Ann Arbor wouldn’t matter.”
Hey AAOI,
I think you missed a recipe brought to us from the Minnesota Turkey Research and Promotion Council via the Ann Arbor News.
http://www.mlive.com/dining/aanews/index.ssf?/base/features-0/1069688628258620.xml
I can assure you with confidence (and relief) that there is no such thing as “East Coast” Turkey Chowder.
posted by Anna on December 4th, 2003 at 3:09 pmRe: the Freep article: Of note is the line, “Steneck said U-M moved because Ann Arbor speculators offered it free land, hoping the school would spur development and raise the value of their real-estate holdings.”
I hope the OFWers were paying attention.
posted by Anna on December 4th, 2003 at 3:18 pmSo U of M isn’t a Land Grant college like MSU? Larry?
posted by Steven B. Cherry on December 4th, 2003 at 3:50 pmRight, MSU is Michigan’s land grant school. I’m pretty sure the deal was one per state. Cornell got the New York franchise, another reason for all the historical links between MSU and Cornell. (E.g., both have buildings named for Liberty Hyde Bailey.)
Oh, and the “land grant” was of the money from selling federally owned land on the frontier, not land to build a college or university on. In those days, the federal government was land rich and cash poor. MSU’s land grant consisted of land in northern Michigan, which was sold to raise money for the college.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on December 4th, 2003 at 6:20 pmActually, the U of M was technically a land-grant school, but not in the sense of the Morrill Land Grant Act, which resulted in MSU. From its inception, however, UM was primarily funded by land sales. Check out Peckham’s The Making of the University of Michigan or Prof. Steneck’s class The History of the University of Michigan for more.
posted by Brandon on December 4th, 2003 at 7:18 pmWant to see what Ann Arbor would be without UMich? Visit Dexter. They lost the bid for the school to A2, way back when. Or, at least, so local lore has it.
posted by Murph on December 4th, 2003 at 11:22 pmYikes. Wasn’t Dexter the home to a some Michigan Militia?
Who knows how reactionalry this region would have flowered into without “Moscow on the Huron”?
posted by Leighton on December 5th, 2003 at 9:21 amLeighton, I’d use present tense when talking about the Michigan Militia.
posted by Steven B. Cherry on December 5th, 2003 at 9:26 amI’ve heard that Michigan is right behind California and Idaho for the most Militant right-wing groups.
You can talk to reps from the Michigan Milita at most gun shows, though I steer clear as I think they’re actually feds.
posted by Steven B. Cherry on December 5th, 2003 at 9:29 amLeighton,
“Mark from Michigan”, who ran a militia radio show, was from Dexter. I went to high school with a nephew of his. Pinckney also is known for being the home to militia types. I think McVeigh was from somewhere around here…
Point being, don’t try to pin the MM to any one place…They’re much more present than you think.
posted by Murph on December 5th, 2003 at 9:34 amdon’t forget the old leader of the Michigan Klan was outa howel michigan, not too far with a bunch of outlet malls, I drive by everytime I’m going up to MSU.
As for the militia, they actually remind me so much of the Socialist groups that exist in michigan, here’s how
1- both atract member who are interested in being voilent
2- both have very limited & undelveloped political ideas. Little to do to move thier cause foward, since they dont organize politicaly, they tend to do direct action work
3- beacause of #2 the leadership of small groups tend to suck, be inefective if not self destructive
4- both also attract member who are not really violent, but drawn in by some of the very ‘rough’ political ideas that come from such groups. These people are often exploited becasue they will do what ever you tell them.
The michigan militia, or more importantly the idea of a militia in general is not such a bad idea. I’ve always thought that having a center road militia would be a great thing (all who call themselves militia tend to be very right)
ok, i’ll shut up now
posted by just a voice on December 5th, 2003 at 10:05 amHowell used to be the seat for the national clan, and “Mark from Michigan” was from Pinkney, though technically lived in Dexter (just off Dexter-Pinkney road).
posted by js on December 5th, 2003 at 11:09 amAll said, the framers of the constitution were against having a standing army; that’s where the second ammendment comes from. But now that we have an army, and the ranks of the militia are unlikely to fulfill Jefferson’s ideas of a revolution every ten years or so, they’re largely outdated. But, to be honest, nearly every state has paramilitary wackos lurking around.
Speaking of some of the local Socialist groups, is the Maoist International Movement (MIM) still active in A2? I always found their cloak-and-dagger act oddly thrilling…
posted by Anna on December 5th, 2003 at 12:31 pmI always wanted to start a non-wacko para-military organization. And yes I know that many people will automatically call me wacko for this desire alone, but. . .
There is some logic to the idea of a state militia, and some legal ground to it too. Always wondered what it would be like if a group like that ever come into existance.
think like this; headline, San Fransico police, and the local San Fransico Militia, prevented federal forces from closing down legal marijana stores today. Federal forces were not willing to order force against the local police authority and the local militia, backing down and leaving without accomplishing the goal of shutting down the ‘pot dens’. This is the kind of legal state rights vs federal rights issue that they should be standing up for.
nother example, While last year in kentucky over 500 million in marijana was burned or confiscated by federal DEA officers, this year the kentuky militia has helped to stop the DEA, so far this year the DEA has only been able to stop 10% of the drugs they had at this time last year.
Excuse me using pot as an example, but its just handy that there are states that give it certain legal-ness where the feds dont
posted by just a voice on December 5th, 2003 at 12:38 pmHey, let’s leave Pinckney out of this. There are a lot of weirdoes in Pinckney (my Dad, and once upon a time, me), but Mark from Michigan is most certainly a Dexter weirdo. His house is on the right side of Dexter-Pinckney road, just north of Dexter, maybe half a mile after you go under what my friend Gordon used to call the Toon-Town bridge. You’ll spot his house easily if you look for the trash in the yard and the camo-painted vehicles up on blocks. So he’s on the way to Pinckney, but much closer to Dexter, and not even in Livingston County yet. Interestingly, he was a U of M custodian when he first gained notoriety, but I believe he lost the job while he was in jail. He’s a pretty funny guy, if you consider colossal idiots to be funny. One of his adventures ended with him fleeing on foot from a Police helicopter, jumping into a small pond, and then attempting to hide under water by breathing through a hollow reed–like in a cartoon. When pulled from the Pond, he affected a terrible fake accent and claimed to be just some foreign guy, who happened to be in the pond, breathing through a reed. Last I heard he was in jail again.
posted by David on December 5th, 2003 at 2:23 pmOh, and I forgot to add that Timothy McVeigh was from New York. It was his sidekick, Terry Nichols, who was from Michigan, but he was from Decker (not Dexter), in Sanilac County, which is in the thumb.
posted by David on December 5th, 2003 at 2:28 pmYou mean UM fires people for simply being in jail? Man, those guys need a union.
posted by Anna on December 5th, 2003 at 2:42 pmUm, they do have a union: AFSCME Local 1583
I don’t think it’s jail, per se, that will get you shit-canned, but the unexcused absences that tend to pile up while you’re in jail.
posted by David on December 5th, 2003 at 3:06 pmFun fact: back in the early days of statehood, cities were competing for various governmental institutions. The prison was actually the preferred prize at the time (Jackson won), Lansing got the capital, and Ann Arbor had to settle for UM. Imagine Ann Arbor State Penitentiary and the University of Michigan at Jackson…
posted by Brandon on December 6th, 2003 at 3:45 pmDavid: thanks for the clarification.
posted by Murph on December 6th, 2003 at 6:17 pmBrandon: that is an old chestnut which is told about nearly every state. In Minnesota, it concludes with “and little Minneapolis had to settle for the state university.”
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on December 7th, 2003 at 5:14 pm