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Too Sexy for Milan?

The first female warden in the Milan prison (Milan, Michigan for you out-of-towners) displays a refreshing perspective on A2:

I remember seeing Ann Arbor listed as one of the best five places to live. But my first impression here was the “sticker shock'’ from housing prices. But it reminds me a lot of other college towns like Madison, Wis., fine people, friendly, university aura, a lot of professional people.

13 Responses to “Too Sexy for Milan?”


  1. If her name happens to be Ilsa, I’ll be on a crime spree in Milan this evening. Lock me away!

    posted by Real Big on July 8th, 2005 at 3:00 pm

  2. Something tells me she doesn’t look anything like Dyanne Thorne.

    posted by Dave on July 8th, 2005 at 3:09 pm

  3. Did the interviewer really call it the Ann Arbor “Metro Area”?

    posted by Heidi on July 8th, 2005 at 5:38 pm

  4. (1) Milan is a federal prison, and you have to be convicted of a federal crime to end up as a prisoner there.

    (2) One of my jobs at MSU was to help conduct a massive federally funded study of all the women’s prisons in the nation. We had an advisory board made up of some of the leading wardens or directors of women’s prisons. I expected them to be tough, hard-bitten, seen-it-all, cynical women — but I was wrong. They were realistic, yes, but also very compassionate.

    (3) The Census Bureau used to define Washtenaw County as the Ann Arbor metropolitan statistical area. In recent years, they have expanded the definition to take in Livingston and Lenawee counties. This has had the odd effect of making the Ann Arbor MSA one of the most suburban, detached single family home-owning, white-bread MSA’s in the nation.

    But either way, the Ann Arbor MSA is just one segment of the greater=Detroit Consolidated Metro Area. In that sense, it is not a standalone metropolitan area.

    posted by Larry Kestenbaum on July 8th, 2005 at 11:06 pm

  5. To expand on Larry’s (3), the “Ann Arbor Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area”, the “Flint PMSA”, and the “Detroit PMSA” combine to make the “Detroit/Ann Arbor/Flint CMSA”.

    There’s also, distinctly, the “Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Urbanized Area”, which is basically A2, Ypsi, Willow Run, Belleville, Dexter, and Saline, along with chunks of the townships around and between them. (PDF map)

    posted by Murph on July 9th, 2005 at 11:02 am

  6. Thanks for the unexpectedly thorough explanation.

    posted by Heidi on July 9th, 2005 at 5:17 pm

  7. attn: bloggers.

    If we could have less serious discourse and more women’s prison jokes, that’d be great.

    posted by Real Big on July 12th, 2005 at 10:37 am

  8. Good job.

    posted by Bsd on August 7th, 2006 at 5:10 pm

  9. Great job.

    posted by Brandon on August 7th, 2006 at 6:11 pm

  10. FABULOUS job!

    posted by peter honeyman on August 7th, 2006 at 11:29 pm

  11. The BEST!

    posted by Job on August 8th, 2006 at 12:00 am

  12. “Overrated.”

    :P :D

    posted by David Boyle on August 8th, 2006 at 1:24 am

  13. Sorry, but Madison, WI DESTROYS A2 in every way. Madison: no smoking allowed in bars and restaurants, contemporary musical acts come to the city, great beer selection in student union, State St. - no cars allowed except cabs, prettier campus, prettier city, surrounded by 2 lakes, etc, etc. Ann Arbor: smoking encouraged in bars and restaurants, has beens only come to play, student union dry, dirty city, Main St. smells, few bike lanes in the city, etc, etc.

    posted by Pat Richie on December 16th, 2006 at 3:16 pm

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