Interactions of the City
ArborWiki is a neat idea, but it may need some work before it’s ready for prime time. The “community portal” section provides the following overview of Ann Arbor life:
The Ann ARbor community consists of two factions, the people who live here and the college students. Thie dualism leads to some very interesting interactions and developments of the city; usually stores end up thriving from the throngs of the spoiled rich kids who inhabit the town evry school year, while business declines when the stench of polo blue and armani rip-offs finally retreat from Ann Arbor’s peacfull street.
Where to begin? For starters, we’d bet dollars to Zingerman’s doughnuts-that-are-good-but-not-really-like-doughnuts that monism is actually more common than dualism here.
Yes. I’m a fucking spoiled rich kid.
Now I’m gonna go back to my one of two jobs, which I have to work on top of 16 credits, 13 of which are engineering senior classes.
Fuck. I like this city during the summer as much as anyone else, but Christ. Gotta love stereotypes, eh?
posted by Anonymous on November 18th, 2005 at 1:58 pmOh, come on. How good do you think Wikipedia was when it had less than 25 edits? Unlike most of the institutions we gleefully bitch about around here, this one has a mechanism for us to do something about it, and it doesn’t even require a login.
Besides, Anon, do you wear Polo Blue or Armani rip-offs? You have to admit that walking down Main Street on warm evenings is a cavalcade of solicitous odors. Just because the student body includes throngs of spoiled rich kids doesn’t make you one of them.
posted by eli on November 18th, 2005 at 2:41 pmIs that even in English? I couldn’t read it.
posted by Dave on November 18th, 2005 at 2:50 pmSure, eli, but most of the folks on Main St. on a warm evening don’t live in Ann Arbor. That’s the population of South Lyon in town for some excitement…
posted by Murph on November 18th, 2005 at 3:18 pmI was told once when interviewing for a job at 16 Hands (yes, it was summer and I was broke), that U of M students do not come to Main St. That Polo Blue and Armani rip-off cologne you smell on Main St. is all native, non-U of M student Michiganders (anians?). Mostly it’s from the perpetual prom that brings throngs of satiny, uncomfortable girls and zitty, over-dressed boys to the corner of Washington and Main St.
posted by AA Hater on November 18th, 2005 at 4:44 pmA wiki always needs help to get moving! I originally created ArborWiki as a place to drop Ann Arbor-related notes. It’s open for anyone to post anything (within reason, AAIO troll commenters!). AW will remain login-free forever, hopefully.
That Community Portal post was by a friend who meant it half seriously and half humorously.
posted by Matt Hampel on November 18th, 2005 at 7:11 pmYour friend should add “thin skinned” as a description of some residents of “the Deuce.” (even as a joke, this expression gags me)
And your friend should also use spellcheck.
posted by OFWinsurgent on November 18th, 2005 at 7:50 pmWell, this seems like a cheap shot, but you could always add that description yourself … seeing as how it’s a wiki and all.
posted by Matt Hampel on November 18th, 2005 at 8:30 pmtouché
posted by OFWinsurgent on November 18th, 2005 at 8:39 pmI never understood wikis….anyone can edit it and say whatever.Right? but whatever, screw Ann Arbor you boring f*ck of a town with your 4 bars 3 restaurants..and the 1 artgallery with wine tasting lmao…Oooh we have a saturday morning market for librarian look alikes….blah blah I know thats off but i am bored with how self important this town is. Yes Umich is a good school, but thet town is just superficial. The food sucks and the service sucks.
posted by murder on November 18th, 2005 at 10:10 pmI never understood wikis….anyone can edit it and say whatever.Right?
So what don’t you understand?
posted by Murph on November 19th, 2005 at 12:55 amEither side of the argument reeks of objectional accusation. I love Ann Arbor, and I hate it. Either way, it’s what you make it. If you don’t like something, change it, right?
posted by Kenny on November 19th, 2005 at 3:03 amGood arguments from both sides. I’ll join the ranks of the cynical when I’ve obtained enough wisdom to argue pro and con…. though I think that might never happen.
Factions? how ’bout the RICH/POOR faction. My friend said the main st/football game contingency are the republicans who don’t want to pay the A2 taxes but want to come & reap their benefits—use the parks, hang on our streets, etc. Seemed right.
Wiki—whatevs.org it’s gotta be funny.
here’s one:
“Ann Arbor Burka: Sleeveless jumper, long w/ turtle neck underneath”
love your site—never posted.
posted by felice on November 19th, 2005 at 9:33 amhmm, there seems to be alot of tension in here! I’m the guy who wrote that original post which i’m sure you have already demonized for its content if not for its grammar.
The truth is, with a school as huge as the U of M, your bound to get hundreds if not thousands of people who could be considered to belong to the same area of asocial stratum e.g. geek, jock, prep (we all know these are narrow and short sited in their classifications), it just so happens that i have a particullar dislike for over dressed and boisterous college students, they’re just more visible to me. However, there is an abundance of cool people, by my definition, who also come to Ann Arbor for college, its a double edged sword.
Honestlly, if i had the power to make sure that no rich preppy prudes came to the U of M, i wouldnt use it. Fact of the matter is that the University is the heart of the city, bringing in fresh consumers every year. As far as i’m concerned the worst thing about the U of M is the absolute lack of parking, problem far more worth solving.
As far as food in the deuce, its pretty damn good if you know where to look, you have to broaden your perspectives beyond just down town fare. Great Lakes chinese has some of the best Dim Sum in the entire state, Zingermnas is considered to be one of the top 25 food markets in the entire world, anything at Kerrytown is cheap and good (not to mention usually organic), and then of course there are the microbreweries, numerous cafes, jazz clubs, and ationally recognized american food specialists (the Roadhouse). If you’ve only seen 3 bars, 4 restaurants, and an art gallery, then you’re probablly just to busy pawing yourself to old pictures of your grandfather to recognize the diversity the the community of Ann Arbor has to offer. Ann Arbor has a veritable symphony of stuff in general, and it is no fault of mine or anyone elses that your to arrogant, ignorant, and self-centered to realize this on your own. I’m sure back in high school the school provided teacher’s aid helped you out with everything from taking your suppository to doing your geometry homework senior year, but in the real world, there isnt going to be anyone standing around to wipe your nose for you when you star crying after failing your midterm, in the real world, people like you arent tolerated. So i suppose its for the best that you sit in your room, twiddling your existence into oblivion, better than you becoming a politician.
-Alexander
posted by Machiavellianphantom on November 19th, 2005 at 1:59 pmA+++ WOULD READ MEANDERING INCOHERENT DEFENSE OF ANN ARBOR AGAIN!
posted by js on November 19th, 2005 at 2:09 pmA+++ WOULD TYPE IN CAPS AND THINK JS IS A DOUCHEBAG FOR ATTACKING POSTER NOT ON MERITS OF POST BUT ON GRAMMAR SYNTAX ORGANIZATION OF POST.
posted by Daniel Adams on November 19th, 2005 at 8:28 pmo_O Yes I know there is more than 3 bars and 4 restaurants. That just describes how I feel about it.
But …suppositories, geometry homework, politicians ,and pink elephants? I get a little frustrated when I can’t find the things I am used to in the real world
posted by murder on November 19th, 2005 at 10:14 pmLet me preface this by saying that I live out by US-23 and Washtenaw..
“As far as food in the deuce”,
Stop saying that.
“its pretty damn good if you know where to look, you have to broaden your perspectives beyond just down town fare”.
Kerrytown is downtown to me. It’s hard to find a place to park and your surrounded by fools.
“Great Lakes chinese has some of the best Dim Sum in the entire state”
That’s great if you’re a Dim Sum aficionado. I’m not.
“Zingermnas is considered to be one of the top 25 food markets in the entire world”
Zingermans is over-priced and crowded for much the same reason.
“anything at Kerrytown is cheap and good (not to mention usually organic)”
If I cared about organic, I’d battle the traffic and drive the mile to go to Whole Foods and deal with its high prices and poor layout. As such, organic doesn’t mean a goddam thing to me.
“and then of course there are the microbreweries, numerous cafes, jazz clubs, and ationally recognized american food specialists (the Roadhouse).”
Microbreweries - all two of them?
Cafes - usually crowded to the gills and most are non-smoking.
Jazz clubs - see Microbreweries
And if it’s nationally recognized it has to be good, right?
I realize I am only (counts fingers) one man, but why is it that I know a lot of people, who lived in admittedly lesser places than Ann Arbor, don’t think this town is worth all the hype?
posted by HNG on November 20th, 2005 at 12:27 pmOh, boy. At what length do we have to go into the “overrated”, “good”, “good for what it is” distinction this time around? If I may sum up and shortcut the reinventing of the critical wheel,
1. Ann Arbor’s not too bad a place.
2. Ann Arbor’s a fairly nice place, for a midwestern town of 120,000.
3. Ann Arbor has a bunch of annoying boosters who like to make ludicrous positive comparisons of Ann Arbor to places like New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco.
4. Fact number four makes fact number 3 marginally less true than it would be if we could get rid of the annoying booster types, but does not negate facts 1 and 2.
I think that’s the general conclusion that comment threads explore at great length every few months…
posted by Murph on November 20th, 2005 at 3:23 pmNice summary, Murph.
posted by Dave on November 20th, 2005 at 3:34 pmHNG, thank God for Applebee’s, eh?
posted by OFWinsurgent on November 20th, 2005 at 3:45 pm“…is over-priced and crowded… …usually crowded to the gills…”
Are you agoraphobic, too impatient to wait more than five minutes for a sandwich, or both?
“It’s hard to find a place to park…”
Get on your bike and ride, fat-bottomed HNG.
posted by FAA on November 20th, 2005 at 4:56 pmDaniel, I’ve lived here for almost 20 years now. Believe it or not, I don’t need to be lectured on food “in the deuce” outside of downtown. I’ve even lived in Ypsi. SHOCKA! And I sute as hell don’t need, again, a rambling and incoherent defense to send me over to Great Lakes for their Dim Sum. Zingerman’s is still overrated, just like the Boston art museum, despite both of them being known worldwide. But maybe if you’d get the “Machiavellianphantom” cock outta yer mouth, you’d recognize an eBay/Slashdot joke when you saw one.
And HNG is pretty dead-on. Arbor Brewing has good beer and shitty food, and Leopold Bros is decent but yupscale. The idea that we have decent jazz clubs is a fucking larf and a half if you, y’know, actually listen to jazz (and the Edgefest has been weaker than its usual great fare the last two years). Kerrytown isn’t cheap, there really are only about three good bars (and only one good venue for rock), coffeeshops are overrated, and that anyone who proclaims a “veritable symphony” of activity or culture must have just gotten off of the slow boat from Big Rapids. There are some nice things here, and I make the best of it, but bullshit about how this is some shining city in the sky can only come from the mouths of the willfully naive or terminally provincial.
posted by js on November 20th, 2005 at 7:51 pmJs:
I’ve never been expected to catch random “Ebay/Slashdot” jokes. Come to think of it, I’ve never heard of an Ebay/Slashdot joke. But if you find these sort of things funny, then I have a great Craigslist/C++ joke to tell you. It’s a real knee-slapper.
The joke was lame, and so was the response-cum-cheap shot. No one is forcing you to process another “Ann Arbor is great” lecture. No one is forcing you to deal with the rambling thoughts of a townie who, quite understandably, loves the town that he/she lives in. And no one is forcing you to continue your 20-year “making the best of it” stay in a town which evidently offers you so little.
Other than your sense of humor, what precisely is your problem? Is it that a resident of a decent town came to the defense of his hometown? Or is it that you’ve been “making the best of it” for two decades, thinking that if you bitch long enough and hard enough, Main Street will turn into Bourbon Street and State Street will turn into the Champs Elysees?
It is not that surprising that people that choose to live in Ann Arbor would think highly of it - so highly in fact that they’d resort to hyperbole in describing it. For many people, this is Chicago. This is Times Square.
Attacking the clarity of such sentiments strikes me as entirely inappropriate. Labelling such sentiments as naive or provincial is, with any amount of justification, an incredibly egoistic and arrogant thing to do.
posted by Daniel Adams on November 20th, 2005 at 11:41 pmLabelling such sentiments as provincial is accurate.
posted by Dale on November 20th, 2005 at 11:55 pmBased on what?
posted by Daniel Adams on November 21st, 2005 at 12:22 amProvincial isn’t necessarily a negative in my mind, and for that matter, New York City, the self-appointed center of the universe, is pretty provincial too. (No, I’m not saying Ann Arbor is the Manhattan of the Midwest.)
posted by Dave on November 21st, 2005 at 12:43 amHNG and Murph have good posts. We should argue about HNGs’s neighborhood for a while. Have they put sidewalks on that part of Washtenaw yet?
If everyone is ape shit about the look and feel of the downtownish area, why do people keep building Applebee’s and Chi-chi’s? Are two story brick buildings a lost art?
posted by A Different Jon on November 21st, 2005 at 1:06 amI’m so glad that “yupscale” is becoming part of the vernacular.
posted by Brandon on November 21st, 2005 at 12:28 pm“HNG, thank God for Applebee’s, eh?”
Truthfully, I rarely eat out period. I fancy myself a pretty damn good cook and prefer to cook my own meals, and yes, my cooking acumen extends far beyond Ragu, microwave and Ramen.
“Are you agoraphobic, too impatient to wait more than five minutes for a sandwich, or both?”
While I do have slight agoraphobic qualities, why wait in line for a sandwich when I can just make one at home? SuperDeli may make a great sandwich, but at its core, its still a sandwich.
“Get on your bike and ride, fat-bottomed HNG.”
Sorry, I don’t own a bike. And if I did, I wouldn’t be making a 10-mile roundtrip from where I live, sans bike lanes or even sidewalks on a hypothetical route, to go eat or go shopping at a place like Kerrytown. However, just because I don’t have a bike doesn’t mean I don’t work out, which I do 4-5 times a week, so spare me the misguided and ignorant personal insults.
posted by HNG on November 21st, 2005 at 12:31 pmRelax, HNG, I wasn’t aiming to insult. I was just poking fun at your anti-downtown rant which appeared to stem from your car-dependent lifestyle, and happened to be listening to Queen at the time. A misguided and ignorant statement would be more along the lines of saying that being in Kerrytown means being surrounded by fools. Unless you define fool as one who shops for locally grown produce on Saturday mornings…
posted by FAA on November 21st, 2005 at 1:49 pmIt’s hard not to be car-dependent when the last bus leaves downtown at 9:45.
And we’re in Michigan. It’s fucking cold. Riding your bike in below freezing and/or snowy/icy weather is potentially dangerous, not to mention extremely uncomfortable.
I’ve never had a car (I’m 25 years old) because I didn’t want one or need one. Now I’m finding it’s a necessity in a town four lousy miles across, even though I live close to a grocery story and on a bus line. Weak.
posted by Pants Rule on November 22nd, 2005 at 4:35 pmLiving in Central Ann Arbor = key.
posted by Brandon on November 22nd, 2005 at 4:55 pm“Riding your bike in below freezing and/or snowy/icy weather is potentially dangerous, not to mention extremely uncomfortable.”
I find after some trial-and-error with clothes and stuff I’ve gotten it down to, well, OK, more like mildly uncomfortable. Even “pleasant” at times–riding home after midnight with a fresh snow falling is great. Random tips:
http://www.foogarden.net/wiki/index.php/Winter_bicycling
Also, isn’t most of Ann Arbor within a couple miles of downtown? I tend to think of that as a reasonable walk.
posted by Bruce Fields on November 22nd, 2005 at 5:37 pmYou might (might) save a few bucks living out in the ‘Burbelt (before the Green Belt, but being able to stumble a few blocks home from Arbor Brewing or other establishments is gold in my book.
posted by Dave on November 22nd, 2005 at 8:41 pmI second Dave on that one.
posted by Jen on November 22nd, 2005 at 10:39 pmwow, you guys are rather serious about this whole Ann Arbor thing. I just think that Ann Arbor has some ups and downs, the ratio of which is debateable. I must say that the jazz scene could be better, with only 2 exclusivley dedicated establishments, although there are numerous halls which host little shows away from the mainstream. I think for most of Ann Arbor, you can find quality in a slew of stuff if you care to look for them. On zingermans, yes they are overpriced, but as a friend of two of the owners (i dont know alex, really), the profit margin is tiny. To have a good product you have to use good components, and those cost money. I personally en joy have a bagel and cream cheese for a bit over a dollar every moring.
p.s. i’m sorry you didnt find either of my previous posts cogent.
posted by Humeghost on November 28th, 2005 at 2:35 pmWho the fuck are you people? If you like Ann Arbor stay, if you don’t then move. Transfer schools for gods sake, if you have the money to go to the UofM you have the money to go somewhere else. Stop bitching, call your daddy and tell him whats up.
But Zingermens is over priced and over rated.
posted by Alex on November 28th, 2005 at 4:48 pmAlex - if you like Zingerman’s eat there, if you don’t then transfer delis for god’s sake. Stop bitching, call and order a pizza or something.
posted by FAA on November 28th, 2005 at 5:42 pmUm, a lot of us are PhD students. Which often means that the U of M pays us to go here, but we can’t transfer anywhere. That’s how a research university works.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on November 28th, 2005 at 5:49 pmWitty…but i don’t frequent a website dedicated to smashing Zingermens. The pizza’s good, and I get out the door paying under three figures. But then again Domino’s does only have two kinds of cheese. Maybe i just don’t understand the finer things.
Thanks for the quick lesson and that little bit of cock flexing Mr. ann arbor is overrated. Sorry i should have read your bio. I hope all the fine research you’re being paid to do on our fair city is being archived and analyzed so we’re not wasting good university money. This is for your dissertation right?
posted by Alex on November 28th, 2005 at 10:55 pmAlex - love it or leave it, right? Glad to see you exude the spirit of tolerance that Ann Arbor bases part of its reputation on. Let’s see if I can capture it: if you like the website and the posters, stay. If you don’t, leave. There, I think I got a hold of it.
Your cognitive skills leave something to be desired as well.
Is there some sort of website out there, like annarbourisunderrated.com, annarborisaok.com, or annarborisl33t.com that has discovered our fair website, because as a long time reader, it seems these type of comments have grown exponentially in the last few weeks.
posted by HNG on November 29th, 2005 at 9:18 amGiven your philosphy, Alex, withholding the urge to type “http://www.annarborisoverrated.com” should suffice.
posted by Anna on November 29th, 2005 at 10:23 amWow, how did I miss the retarded retorts?
Daniel: The reason you should be expected to get eBay jokes is because this is TEH INTARWEB and being at least mildly conversant in its tropes is expected. Unless, y’know, you wanna show what a Herb you are.
“The joke was lame, and so was the response-cum-cheap shot. No one is forcing you to process another “Ann Arbor is great†lecture.”
And no one forced you to reply, yet ya did. It’s almost like there’s some underlying irony in your argument that you haven’t processed yet…
“Other than your sense of humor, what precisely is your problem?”
Admit it, you thought ‘Oooh, burn!’ when you wrote that, didn’t you?
“It is not that surprising that people that choose to live in Ann Arbor would think highly of it - so highly in fact that they’d resort to hyperbole in describing it. For many people, this is Chicago. This is Times Square.”
posted by js on December 25th, 2005 at 5:17 pmThose people are bumpkins and retards. But maybe you should keep defending their right to be smug and myopic.
You guys obviously are awesome for arguing on the internet.
posted by God on April 7th, 2006 at 9:02 pmI think it has come time for a few deuches to get a life.
posted by A HUGE COCK on March 31st, 2007 at 5:24 pmWell, that was pretty entertaining. . . I wonder if it’s okay to love Ann Arbor and to love AnnArborisoverrated as well? If lovin’ both is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. I’ll take smug and myopic, though. When in Rome, buy pizza.
posted by LittleB on March 31st, 2007 at 11:38 pmThank goodness “A HUGE SUCK” didn’t call our city the “Ace Deuche [sic]” or something.
posted by David Boyle on April 1st, 2007 at 12:22 pm