Enough Is Enough
Ann Arbor resident Mary Lee Muzik, the News reports, is sick of A2’s constant inclusion on best-of lists - she’s worried that more people will start moving in. We’re doing our absolute best here, and the flood of list mentions hasn’t even slowed.
We can get Ann Arbor off these lists - but we have to work together. If you ever receive a survey about life in Ann Arbor from one of these magazines or demographic agencies, stay resolute and be prepared to mark “barely satisfactory” on every question. If a reporter contacts you, act like it’s too painful to talk about. The statistic-based lists with their flawed methodologies will be a little harder to combat, but we can do it - if we had all just gotten married and divorced three times before the “stressful city” study went to print, we probably could have stopped it.
Unite!
If I’m elected I promise to be so miserable and ornery that no one will move here.
posted by mucho gusto on January 13th, 2004 at 5:38 pmAt the end of the story:
But at least one Ann Arbor resident claims you can be unemployed - and homeless - here and still be relatively stress-free.
Aaron Karlosky, 38, has lived all over the country and in Germany and says this is the most stress-free place he’s found yet.
“I don’t have to worry about rent or a job or car payment or a car or utilities,” said Karlosky, standing with a friend outside the Ann Arbor District Library Monday afternoon. “It’s easier to live here than anywhere else because we can sell plasma, or bottle returns. There’s lots of free meals and free clothes. And there’s always the big college student move-out. Students throw everything away. If you can’t live in Ann Arbor without much stress, you’re doing something wrong.”
This seemed like a bizarre way to end the story. I had no idea that homelessness was a stress-free lifestyle.
posted by Nick on January 13th, 2004 at 6:09 pmNick, we live in a insecure world and life is terribly fragile. If we accept that premise our lives would be less stressful no matter where our bodies lived.
posted by the tingler on January 13th, 2004 at 6:55 pmThat was pretty good. Existential crisis = so sooooothing.
posted by Anna on January 13th, 2004 at 7:07 pmPerhaps I’ve misjudged the profound teachings of the AA News. The homeless in AA definitely make better Stoics than did those in Santa Monica. How unenlightened of me to feel compassion.
posted by Nick on January 13th, 2004 at 9:51 pmThat homeless interview shows how dense the News is about this crap.
Such surveys are always screwy for stats. They probably drop the odd results that people like us would submit.
Like with the Current’s Best of Washtenaw Co. Survey question: “Best Thing about Ypsi?”, the typical Ann Arbor snob made “Ann Arbor ” the top answer. (I suggest answering “It’s not Ann Arbor”).
This will be thrown out of course.
posted by Leighton on January 13th, 2004 at 10:21 pm“Cloudy days” as a stress indicator? Why isn’t Seattle–one of the most laid-back places I had the pleasure of visiting–#1? What data backs that as a stress indicator? I don’t feel particularly quivery on cloudy days. And two (if I remember right) of the stress questions seem not to be empirical data but require respondents’ self-reporting–the alcohol use and the mental health questions. I think deep-rooted Ann Arborite city boosterism might lead people to respond to these in a positive rather than accurate light.
posted by Laura on January 13th, 2004 at 11:04 pmI noticed that the article did include an interview with a student who discussed the stress of student life.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on January 14th, 2004 at 12:50 amI doubt the “stressful cities” survey will ever be repeated, or if it is, it won’t get enough media play for any of us to notice it.
Since mucho gusto has thrown his hat in the ring (see first comment above), I might as well mention that I’m running on the Democratic ticket for Washtenaw County Clerk and Register of Deeds. See my blog for details.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on January 14th, 2004 at 1:06 amIsn’t the “stressful cities” program one of Governor Grnaholm’s ideas?
posted by the tingler on January 14th, 2004 at 6:56 amJust to further demonstrate the bullshit nature of the low-stress cities: I don’t know how they chose Schenectady (and Albany-Troy) number one. I spent a large part of my childhood there - and I absolutely love the city - but it’s not a stress-free place. Like many other industrial cities, it’s dealt with companies and people leaving. GE has pretty much fucked the city. There was a NY Times article on this a few weeks ago. Yes Union College is in Schenectady, but they’ve literally fenced themselves away from the community. To paraphrase a local reporter: it’s a city built for well over 100,000 that now has fewer than 60,000.
posted by Andrew on January 14th, 2004 at 9:06 amAs for Ms. Muzak’s concerns: Doing my part not to add to the overcrowding in AA.
posted by Anna on January 14th, 2004 at 10:50 amLaura- Michigan actually gets less days of sun per year than Seattle, according to the Places Rated book.
posted by js on January 14th, 2004 at 11:24 amLeighton- The Current “Best Part About Ypsi” was “Depot Town”, #2 was Ann Arbor. Having worked on tallying the ballots before, I would wager that the category got less than ten votes total. Nearly all of the “Best Ofs” are incredibly easy to skew, save a few hearty favorites from year after year. A few years ago, I got three friends to write in (I’m ineligble to vote) and got proclaimed the Best Non-Fiction Writer. Rather than award me the prize, the category was stricken (as well it should have been).
So feel free to mount an effort to get Christpuncher listed as the best band, or something. For the best rock band, it will take you about 15 votes to be the winner. On the other hand, Zingerman’s usually wins its category with over 500+ votes, to Amer’s 150 or so.
js
js, how can you compare a city to an entire state? It doesn’t seem very scientific.
“Michigan actually gets less days of sun per year than Seattle, according to the Places Rated book.” -js
posted by Steven B. Cherry on January 14th, 2004 at 1:18 pmThere’s a poll going on about Ypsi right now at Steve of the Revolution.
My God. Depot Town I forgot.
posted by Leighton on January 14th, 2004 at 1:32 pmSteven- I’m sorry, that should read either that Michigan has more cloudy days per year than Washington does (on average, again compared through the places rated almanac) or that the Detroit Metro area has fewer days of sun per year than Seattle does (also from places rated, ‘99 edition). However, the differences aren’t all that significant, and I have a feeling that a search of other years might shift the data one way or the other.
posted by js on January 14th, 2004 at 2:48 pmjs
The Ann Arbor News reports today that the grad student ghetto window peeper is back in action. I wonder how that figure into the stress index?
posted by Anna on January 14th, 2004 at 4:59 pmWhy haven’t they locked up this creep? It may seem like nothing serious, but in fact this peeping-Tom behavior is nothing to shrug off–many serial killers began with this stuff–it’s all about the power, “they can’t see me.” I wouldn’t take it lightly and I am a little fearful for the college kids who would just write it off as “some kook.” Sorry for rant–it was cloudy today.
posted by Laura on January 15th, 2004 at 1:07 amAs I’ve probably posted, I live in the Old Fourth Ward. Yeah, that’s kind of scary. I wonder if it’s even the same guy.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on January 15th, 2004 at 1:24 amThere’s probably more than one. I wouldn’t be too worried about serial killers though. I don’t know of any that started by looking in windows (the study of serial killers is a hobby of mine). If stray animals start disappearing, then I’d worry.
Window peepers are common and usually harmless, though some of the reported voyeurs may actually be theives looking for unattended laptops. Over the 6 years I lived near Grand Rapids, my neighbors had 3 men arrested for trying to look in my windows (I was the only person under 30 in my neighborhood).
posted by Hillary on January 15th, 2004 at 9:24 amOkay, I am confused. Is Ann Arbor is overrated, then there is nothing to preserve by telling people how bad it is. So, therefore, AAIO and likeminded people should have to objection to the constant hyping of the place. (Or does AAIO actually love Ann Arbor, and simply use this blog to discourage people frommoving here and disturbing all the really cool black-turtlenecked chess players?) Out west, by the way, you can tell when aplace is no longer cool when Californians start to move there. It happened in Boulder a long time ago, and it is happening in Austin now. Remember when Seattle was cool?
posted by Lucky Jackson on January 15th, 2004 at 10:03 amI lived in that neighborhood for several years (actually, on the block where one of the recent incidents occurred, and there are only about three houses there that are split into apartments) and we NEVER had a window peeper before — at least not one that anyone noticed. I don’t think this is just business as usual. It seems way, way too coincidental to me if this is all just normal that people have suddenly started noticing. And it almost has to be the same person — they’re too close in proximity and time for it to be someone different.
A peeper could be just a peeper or he could be looking for a solitary rape victim or just a laptop, but you can’t know for sure, so I wouldn’t assume he’s harmless. The guy they caught had some kind of history, my memory of the article was that they just didn’t have enough evidence to hold him. And people with seriously weird obsessions like that almost never stop offending.
posted by Anna on January 15th, 2004 at 10:22 amA Californian’s reply to Lucky Jackson’s comment re: Boulder and Austin: you’re exactly right, but that’s why CA is cool now. We didn’t want those people either - once they left LA in the early 90s it became a much more interesting city.
posted by Nick on January 15th, 2004 at 12:29 pmI agree with you, Anna. You definately can’t assume he’s harmless and he should be reported and arrested as soon as possible. Peepers almost never stop offending until they’re arrested and one person is undoubtedly involved in many of the reported incidents as of late. I wouldn’t assume it’s all one guy though. The police get calls about men peeping in windows all the time.
I never once caught a peeper looking in my windows (I was sleeping), yet 3 were arrested right outside. Everyone should lock their doors every night and close their blinds, regardless of whether or not there have been recent incidents.
posted by Hillary on January 15th, 2004 at 12:56 pmAnn Arbor is a bubble of non-reality.
Many people want to go to disneyland.
posted by Mark on January 15th, 2004 at 3:29 pmIf it’s going to be a bubble of non-reality, couldn’t it at least be a fun bubble of non-reality?
posted by Anna on January 28th, 2004 at 9:45 am