This Town is Our Town, This Town is So Glamorous
The new Trader Joe’s on Stadium prominently features an illustration of Ann “Arbour” Allen near the checkout. But where’s the love for fellow city namesake Mary Ann Rumsey, seemingly always destined to play Charlotte Caffey to Allen’s Belinda Carlisle?
And while we’re on Ann Arbor history, here’s what one writer had to say about A2 (or would that be just “A” back then?) in 1831: “emigrants are coming in so fast that people charge what rent they please.”
“emigrants are coming in so fast”…shades of the current development explosion north, south, and west of AA. The greenbelt decision hasn’t deterred developers. In fact, it’s spurred land prices to new levels. Developers are snapping up every available bit of acreage, and it’s doubtful, given prices of up to $40,000 an acre, that the city has the cash to buy enough land to create a viable greenbelt.
posted by Laura on March 30th, 2004 at 12:15 amAnybody going to see The Apes and Modey Lemon at the Elbow Room tonight?
posted by Alex on March 30th, 2004 at 6:52 amFuck. I meant to catch that. Modey Lemon are really fun, and I’ve been meaning to see The Apes.
posted by js on March 30th, 2004 at 9:10 amjs
Definitely ready to see the Apes again — caught them for the first time at SXSW two weeks ago, and they blew me away.
posted by Santa Fe exile on March 30th, 2004 at 9:55 amIt’s tonight JS, you haven’t missed it yet. I’m gonna try and make it myself, depending on how good a girl I am today.
posted by Alex on March 30th, 2004 at 11:11 amWork stuff tonight, unfortunately. But Modey Lemon are a good time, one of the better Pittsburgh bands these days.
posted by Nick on March 30th, 2004 at 11:26 amre: Greenbelt
Don’t say I didn’t tell you.
I told you not to tell me that!
Land prices going up? Skyrocketing home prices?
Hieftje’s played both sides of the coin and as a realtor stands to profit. As a politician, he belongs in Lansing so he can spread the pain around to folks other than residents of A2
posted by mucho gusto on March 30th, 2004 at 12:06 pmAnybody know what time weekday shows at the Elbow start. Like If I wanna see Modey Lemon and maybe half of the band before what time should I get there?
posted by Melvin on March 30th, 2004 at 5:10 pmI was really sad to see read on Goodspeed Update that Barry Biniarz died on St. Patrick’s day. Barry owned the hot dog cart on the corner of State and N. Univ. and was at one point a good friend of mine. He was one of the last vestiges of the Ann Arbor I knew and at one point loved.
Barry was kind and gentle, happy and jolly, and most of all, fun. It was impossible to get or stay angry at Barry. He had a fantastic sense of humor, and the remarkable ability to see the good in even the most wacked-out crazy person. He collected friends and drew them to him; he had a diverse and enormous circle, people from ex-convicts (or, more accurately, hiding-out convicts) to graduate students, to flaming, flamboyant cross-dressers, to relatively conservative local business owners. He was the glue that held everyone together, always the one to initiate parties and plans. In the few short years I knew Barry I camped, I did adrenaline-junky sports, I went to parties, I saw cross-dressing divas lip-synch to Alanis Morisette. If it was happening, Barry had his hand in it, somehow.
Barry was gay, and although most people he knew casually didn’t know it, it was never a secret. He was devoted to his partner, and never looked back after having left a marriage many years ago. At the same time, one of the biggest burdens in Barry’s life was his struggle with being gay in a straight world. Barry said to me once that he’d never wish being gay on anyone. Not that he wanted to be straight, he told me, but he wished he could be a part of the mainstream in a world that could be, a times, terribly difficult. Yet, despite all that, he knew who he was, and was able to take love where he found it, in Alan. All told, Barry was an incredibly happy person.
To me, Barry was everything that used to be good about Ann Arbor: slightly wacky, a little off-key, but always well-intentioned. He took pride in his business, built both of his carts himself, and enjoyed each day. I still talked to him on occasion, and always stopped to have a beer with him when I was in town. I’ll miss him and will always wish I’d had another chance to tell him how special I think he was.
Here’s to you, Barry, one of the few people in Ann Arbor who was truly underrated.
posted by Anna on March 30th, 2004 at 6:06 pmThe man trafficked in the flesh of murdered animals. He should have been electrocuted and then eaten. We reap as we sow.
posted by A2-PETA on March 30th, 2004 at 7:56 pmAssuming you don’t survive on vitamin supplements, I guess it’s your fate to be doused with insecticides, ripped from your home, shipped in a cold truck, and then fired in a hot brick oven, boiled, steamed, or sauteed.
posted by Anna on March 30th, 2004 at 8:02 pmHe also trafficked in the flesh of fermented soy, providing an alternative for those of us who don’t eat meat. Man, I wonder how puritans manage to get anything done. I’d rather have more options and be able to buy what I want than to have to buy the “right” thing or nothing…
posted by js on March 30th, 2004 at 8:21 pmjs
Was that some sort of holocaust reference, Anna? Was it supposed to be funny? Is that your idea of biting satire? Do you make a habit of threatening people with gas and cremation?
In the future, as you condemn people you disagree with, I would thank you for eliminating your not-so-clever references to shipping them in cold trucks and then cooking them in hot brick ovens. When you trivialize a crime, you invite it to be recommitted.
posted by Jennifer on March 31st, 2004 at 9:36 amJennifer, I hope you were kidding — Holy shit, I was referring to vegetables. I had no thoughts in my head about the holocaust.
posted by Anna on March 31st, 2004 at 10:08 am“Those… Those are the screams of the carrots. For tomorrow is the harvest and, for them, the holocaust.”- Tool
posted by js on March 31st, 2004 at 10:52 amjs
Since when did PETA celebrate the death of a human being (also an animal)? Am I missing something?
Man, I come over to AAIO for some humor, and I have to read how someone is happy that someone else is dead. Sheesh.
posted by todd on March 31st, 2004 at 10:59 amApes ruled. They are vegan, jewish and Ann Arborites tried to take them home (tie in).
posted by Leighton on March 31st, 2004 at 2:01 pmDamn, I always miss the good stuff! Tuesdays are just too impossible… How was Modey Lemon? Haven’t heard their new one yet.
posted by Alex on March 31st, 2004 at 2:54 pmAfter getting over my morning shock, I have to say that I find Jennifer’s comment (and the amount of mental convolution it represented) pretty damn funny. Who ever said anything about people being gassed and cremated? (Picket Brueggers — they’re killing bagels in there!) Geesh.
Although I’m a vegetarian (partly out of empathy for animals, I’ll admit) PETA’s gotten so fringe, nutty, and out of control that I could never support them.
posted by Anna on March 31st, 2004 at 3:02 pmI don’t really think it’s a matter anyone would, or should, joke about, Anna. Maybe jennifer was a little overly sensitive, but it does not behoove us to tell her what an appropriate reaction is in a situation where she feels threatened. With an issue as painful as this one, I think we’re always best off erring on the side of compassion and tolerance. I think you owe her an apology.
posted by Jon on March 31st, 2004 at 3:41 pmWhat situation are you talking about, Jon? A situation in which she generated a fairly outlandish interpretation? A situation in which I joked about the silliness of PETA by implying that vegetables have feelings, too? No, nuh uh. I don’t live in AA anymore.
posted by Anna on March 31st, 2004 at 3:56 pmThose were some very hurtful words, Anna. You seem upset and I think maybe you need a time-out to think about why what seems outlandish to you might be perfectly reasonable to someone else, or vice versa. We all hurt people at times without meaning to, but the measure of our characters is how we deal with the shame of being confronted with it. It’s ok to feel shame, Anna, but one should be cautious in externalizing those shameful feelings as anger, lest one compound the hurt one has already caused.
And of course you don’t live in Ann Arbor anymore. We all see that, Anna, and it seems like that was a really, really positive move for you. But I wonder if maybe you’re spending too much “internal” time in Ann Arbor.
Think about that time-out. We’re all rooting for you
posted by Jon on March 31st, 2004 at 4:16 pmJon, Was that a joke, or are you a nut, too? See, I’m all confused. Maybe I’ll try being Vera for a bit.
posted by Anna on March 31st, 2004 at 4:58 pmThe Holocaust can be funny. I mean, “Why did Hitler cry? His ‘42 gas bill” is funny. “What’s the difference between a Jew and a pizza? A pizza doesn’t cry on its way to the oven” is funny. A secular Jew who volunteers at youth retreats (”Don’t call them camps. We drive, we don’t take boxcars.”) teaching me these jokes is funny.
posted by js on March 31st, 2004 at 6:38 pmMel Brooks is funny, and he’s made a career out of Nazi jokes.
Relax.
js
Anna,
Power in words?
I got your intent immediately.
Some chose to read it quite differently.
Maybe I understand you a little better.
Ilya
posted by ilya on March 31st, 2004 at 8:53 pmModey Lemon were better than ever with the new guy, but the Apes outdid them. Their “MC” slagges Detroit Hair Garage bands. (I don’t think it was done using a disarming Hitler Joke, but he did make an attempt at Courtney Love).
posted by Leighton on March 31st, 2004 at 9:54 pmJon, you seem to be seriously missing the point of this site. Anybody who is easily offended should not be reading. Even my houseplants have figured that out by now. (Speaking of whom, they thought the whole vegetable thing was pretty funny.)
I’m reminded of my Jewish friend who used to scream, “Off to the showers, Jew-boy!” in public spaces…
posted by Murph on March 31st, 2004 at 10:11 pmWhere the hell is Boris with the damn jokes?
posted by todd on April 1st, 2004 at 8:47 amI’ll be sure not to ever discuss the sensitive topic of “scaffolding” in case it brings back, through the collective unconscious, the horror of beheadings at the Tower of London. Through my sensitivity indoctrination, I’ve learned that “stakes” or “fire” can elicit images of the Spanish Inquisition. And I won’t even go near the topic of “cars” or “boats”.
posted by Anna on April 1st, 2004 at 10:57 amUm, Anna, not to pry, but are you OK? Your posts have been much pricklier lately than we’re used to. Arguing the finer points of etiquette with veginazis seems kind of, well, beneath you. I had thought Ann Arbor was the only place where people tried to win arguments with idiots - please don’t tell me that the outside world I miss so much is changing.
posted by Nick on April 1st, 2004 at 1:01 pmAnna, I gather that you’re an educator? It concerns me that you’re taking these damaging notions into the classroom. It would be a shame if someone as talented as you let her hostilities undermine her career. Please be careful. Sarcasm certainly has its uses, and I understand that in this highly sensitive world you might appreciate a “secret” place like this where you can air some of your prejudices without fear of recrimination. My concern is that, though secret, this place is also public, and you bear a certain responsibility for the weight of your words. I also feel compelled to caution you that when one works oneself into a furor in an accepting place like this, one runs the risk of carrying ones more poisonous ideas out into a public forum, say a classroom. You could, so to speak, lose your sense of what is appropriate. I implore you, at the very least, not to share the Hitler “jokes” you’ve learned here.
In Sympathy,
Jon
posted by Jon on April 1st, 2004 at 1:22 pmJon, I thought that UM’s PC indoctrination took place at the beginning of the semester, but perhaps that’s changed of late. Nick, darling, I don’t think I’ve been prickly. Were I prickly, I wouldn’t be joking.
posted by Anna on April 1st, 2004 at 1:43 pmHow the hell did we get from vegetables to PC nonsense?
I’m boycotting the site until Boris arrives to straighten things out. (insert internet angry face that I can’t do)
This site is supposed to brighten my day, dammit.
posted by todd on April 1st, 2004 at 1:44 pmJon is an asspump.
posted by Morbidly Midwestern on April 1st, 2004 at 1:51 pmerr… lest there be any doubt, since that’s obviously not AAIO, that wasn’t me.
posted by Anna on April 1st, 2004 at 1:51 pmI’m sensing a lot of unhappiness here, Anna. This isn’t a healthy environment. And lest you think I’m just being a nervous nelly, you can see that your friend Nick is concerned about you too. There is a difference, as Nick and I both know, between political correctness and compassion. Political correctness is used to scold, compassion to nurture. Let us nurture you, Anna. You need it.
posted by Jon on April 1st, 2004 at 3:45 pmWow, it requires really 1337 hacker skills to impersonate people in the comments.
Whoever’s doing this is doing so mostly from ITD and library machines. I can’t ban all of those.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 1st, 2004 at 4:48 pmWhy are you banning anyone?
posted by ilya on April 1st, 2004 at 5:22 pmGuess we’ll have to rely on the honor system. And the principle that people too hopelessly lame to take credit for their own comments in an anonymous weblog are really, really fucking sad.
And Anna, fair enough. I choose my battles differently is all.
posted by Nick on April 1st, 2004 at 5:31 pmSorry for not checking in of late, Todd. But I’ve been very busy helping out with the Michigan chapter of the Vegetable Anti-Defamation League. It’s a busy time of year right now here at VADL, what with chipati season upon us and what have you. And let’s just say that Anna’s comments above have had our phones ringing off the hook the last couple days. Some of our German volunteers down at the office were reduced to tears (never a pretty sight to see a German cry) — war guilt, you know…. Anyway, if anyone wants to join us in picketing the Produce Station on Saturday afternoon, show up with your signs and sandwich boards by noon. (Jennifer, can we count on your support?) See you all there!
posted by Boris on April 1st, 2004 at 10:10 pmActually, Boris, I figured you’d taken transcripts of all the Nazi jokes to Ms. Strayer and were co-authoring a Daily article with her.
posted by Nick on April 2nd, 2004 at 12:48 amdamn, that was confusing!
I’m so lost, I think I’ll go eat a PETA activist on pita. mmmmm activist
posted by Just a Voice on April 2nd, 2004 at 8:40 am