ann arbor is overrated.

On Wisconsin

After 6 years in Ann Arbor, we’d somehow come to imagine Madison as a slightly bigger, slightly less expensive and overhyped version of Tree Town. Sure, it seemed edgy and hip when we were in high school in the Chicago suburbs, but it’s still a Midwestern college town, not unlike A2.

Apartment-hunting for a friend last weekend put an end to that particular misconception. A weekend of looking at spacious one-bedrooms with gleaming hardwood floors for $700 (heat included!), sitting on the terrace of the Wisconsin Union overlooking Lake Mendota (we think there’s some kind of river in A2, but we can’t remember exactly where it is) and having a $4.50 breakfast that would have been about $8.50 in the Deuce has convinced us that Madtown is everything A2 claims to be. (Well, except for Manhattan and Athens rolled into one.) And it’s even got 80 percent fewer insipid nicknames per capita!

75 Responses to “On Wisconsin”

No shit. Only been there once but it made me jealous. Plus people from Wisconsin are awesome, and Ann Arbor townies can be, um, ahem……..
posted by ajn on July 17th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
No shit. Only been there once but it made me jealous. Plus people from Wisconsin are awesome, and Ann Arbor townies can be, um, ahem…….. as AAIO notes, very convinced of their oh-so-special place in the universe.
posted by ajn on July 17th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Big talk from someon who can’t post a comment….
posted by Chris on July 17th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Is it A2’s fault so many of the people who come here can afford the high rents? Two bedroom lofts for $2100 and right above the Wild Wings, sign me up!
posted by Dustin on July 17th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Lived in AA for 8 years (92-2000), in all sorts of “neighborhoods.” Am glad I left many moons ago. However, I still read your blog. I must admit, I have a sick nostalgia for the Maybarry on the Huron.
posted by Scott on July 17th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
well, it finally happened, plymouth and saline were voted into the top 100 places to live in the 2007 CNN money list whereas ann arbor didn’t even crack the list. i think it may be time to move elsewhere… anyone want to buy a house?
posted by arborsux on July 18th, 2007 at 8:11 am
No, nobody wants to buy a house.
posted by Nitro on July 18th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Yeah. I feel for Madison too, the grass always being greener and all…. But man it gets COLD there: but then again, it’s more sunny (A2’s biggest negative in my book). So, let’s say one COULD sell your house in A2, I wonder how much that same house would cost to be in walking distance to campus in Madison? Madison’s counter-culture days are also long past and it too has gone upscale. Oh, and let’s admit that UM has a way prettier central campus than UWisc, although lake Mendota right there at the student union is so sweet. Please discuss!
posted by caetano on July 18th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
So move to Madison…

as Atmosphere says: “it sucks that you think that my town is whack, but as long as that’s enough to keep your ass from coming back…”

Go away and shut the fuck up about it.
posted by Packard and Platt on July 18th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Though Madison does also have this going for it.
posted by christina on July 18th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
oh c’mon, packard, i think the whole reason that this site exists is that most of would rather go somewhere else, but are stuck having to live in ann arbor for some reason or another

the real question is, why are you hanging out on a site called ann arbor is overrated, if you don’t like people dissing ann arbor? wanker.
posted by stc on July 18th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
You can like living in Ann Arbor and still recognize that it’s entirely overrated.
posted by jen on July 19th, 2007 at 9:52 am
You can even like living in Ann Arbor, not believe that its particularly overrated, and still find its humorless pomposity at times deserving of ridicule.
posted by Parking Structure Dude! on July 19th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I love Ann Arbor, but of course the folk who think that it’s rocking the world, perhaps haven’t seen much of it. The world, I mean.
posted by LittleB on July 19th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Having moved to Madison a year ago, after being a long-time Ann Arborite, I’m not sure I can recommend the place. It most certainly has it’s charms, and the residents are courteous to a fault. But the city seems almost third world in some regards. The management of the infrastructure is haphazard, at best: snow removal is unpredictable (worse than AA is hard to believe, but true); water quality is sketchy; parking enforcement is capricious and extreme, even in residential areas; the water quality of the lakes is skanky beyond imagining, yet motorized boat traffic and nearby agricultural operations are all but unregulated. There are damn few trees, though certain areas do have beautiful mature canopies. And real estate inflation surpasses Ann Arbor’s in no small measure. I don’t doubt this is exacerbated by the fact that the rental market here is essentially unregulated. People are desperate not to rent. (Even though rental prices here are lower, generally, the overall atmosphere favors unscrupulous landlords.) The central part of campus and the surrounding areas are a depressing jumble of 70s-era Soviet-bloc-style university buildings, anything-goes commercial buildings, and chopped-up houses cum rental schlock units. In the last few years, giant mushroom-like condo units (Ã la North Chicago) have cast their antiseptic shadows over large swathes of central Madison. Many more are in the works.

It’s said there are green space plans underway for central campus, but I don’t think there are plans to deal with the fact that the isthmus is, practically, less a city than a traffic thoroughfare for those who live outside the city.

And, for all the **remarkable** bike paths that exist in this city, it’s still easier to get out of town by bike in Ann Arbor — principally because bike routes in Madison are poorly integrated with general traffic routes.
posted by Baba on July 21st, 2007 at 1:10 am
Actually, I’ve found snow removal here in ann arborto be more than adequate for the main roads, for the most part. The amount of salt they use has been rusting out my car pretty quickly, though. (I have no garage–I’m one of those renters).

The water here is pretty awful; it smells like a swimming pool, and for the first time in my life, I’ve developed dandruff that can only be described as “violent” (I am not the only transplant who has experienced this). When I leave ann arbor, it goes away. I also know that the groundwater in a lot of ann arbor is poisoned due to various chemical spills.

I know the meter maids patrol often, so I keep the meter fed or I park where there are no meters and walk. WRT landlords, again, I don’t see much of a difference. Landlords tend to take advantage of students wherever students live. But I still can’t wrap my head around renewal letters coming in a month after a lease begins. (on a side note, what’s the new limit? eight weeks? 90 days? I can’t recall, but it’s still absofucking ridiculous.) At least the rent’s a little lower in Madison.

“Green space” is overrated.
posted by Pants Rule on July 21st, 2007 at 5:48 pm
If I had to choose between midwestern college towns based solely on the city and the quality of life, I’d take Madison over Ann Arbor in a heartbeat. I’ve lived in both cities. Madison offers more vitality and urban activity than AA. As a renter in both places, I found the offerings in Madison far more diverse in both form (houses, walk up apartments, high rises) and quality (both with crappy student holes and nicer places), a much wider variety of retail downtown, and a far more interesting setting. The city engages the lakes, where Ann Arbor’s interaction with the Huron River is severely lacking. Madison’s campus area nightlife puts AA to shame.

A great deal of UW’s campus architecture is unremarkable, but there are several wonderful buildings as well. Most importantly, while the campus is large, it is contiguous. Imagine if Michigan had decided to relocate the hospital to the North Campus site and put all of those NC academic programs where the hospital now sits - That’s more or less what UW did, relocating their hospital from the heart of campus out towards the distant edge - and Madison is better for it.

I’m also amiss about calling the isthmus more of a thoroughfare than a city. The geography certainly puts far more traffic on Madison’s streets than in AA, but it’s also far more of a city than AA will ever be, even in the most rosy of Calthorpe buildout scenarios. Madison’s height limit (no building within a certain radius can eclipse the base of the Capitol dome) has brought with it several developments that push right to that limit. While they do shade the streets, they also provide a great deal of new housing units (primarily rentals near campus), as well as ground floor retail. The height limit (effectively 12 or 13 stories) allows for a great deal of density with reasonable limits, so developers can actually make a buck and keep the prices reasonable.

Plus, the aforementioned Union Terrace makes up for any deficiencies Madison may have.
posted by Alex B on July 22nd, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Funny I stumbled upon this site as most of this summer I’ve been unrelentlessly comparing Ann Arbor to Madsion. I, too have lived in both places and am currently in A2 as a summer intern at the University. I find myself wishing I was in Madison again this summer; I would also choose Madison over A2 without question.

Having previously lived in Madison i was expecting a very similar environment upon my arrival in A2 earlier this summer. I was surprised by the lack of a dominant downtown scene at the ambiguous “heart” of Ann Arbor when faced with a mediocre S. University, S. State Street and the Main Street area (which from experience caters to more of a 30-something crowd).

I also obliviously expected a lake front in A2and was disappointed as I am in love with the Union Terrace and the Monona and Mendota lakes of Madison. Madison uses its lakes to its fullest with 10+ beaches, two terraces (one that serves as a convention center), bike and walking paths all around the lakes, and a number of parks scattered throughout. Yes the water quality is a subject of debate but I enjoyed being surprised with the glimpse of a lake in most any direction I traveled.

I also loved how more people travel by foot and by bike in Madison, and the bikers know to stay on the STREETS. Apparently it’s legal for bikers to ride the sidewalks here whizzing past me at any moment’s notice sometimes forcing me to step off the sidewalk to let them by. Last time I checked, pedestrians had the right of way…

Madison’s State street, pretentious at times, is laden with culturally diverse home-owned restaurants. There is still your Buffalo Wild Wings and Starbucks but it is rivaled with 3 times the number of similar places that are far better in quality and are not franchised.

The people are also much friendlier in Madison than in Ann Arbor. The locals seem to think they’re so much better than everyone else because their daddies are doctors at the hospital. I’ve traveled substantially and there are far humbler people in places that are home to bigger money.

While I enjoyed the Top of the Park festival as well as the Art festival they both seemed to draw more middle aged people than a younger crowd. Do all the college students and 20-somethings go home during the summer? I find it hard to believe there aren’t a number still around here someplace.

For a young, hip family of 4 Ann Arbor might be a perfect abode but as a college student and a well-traveled individual I find Madison much more enticing, enriching, and enjoyable as a whole.
posted by Michelle on July 22nd, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Michlle wrote:
“…Do all the college students and 20-somethings go home during the summer? I find it hard to believe there arenâ€™t a number still around here someplace”

Yes, Michelle, they do. As for any that stick around, probably not too many. They would be the graduats that have lingered and joined the ranks of townies. the townies don’t always stick around to long either. Okaym I stuck around for eight years after undergrad, but I busied myself by playing in bands, and acting. That made the eniue easier to handle.

The place is pretty transient. Take a break and head for Madison and enjoy a bit of your summer.
posted by Scott on July 23rd, 2007 at 10:19 am
Alex B. wrote:
Iâ€™m also amiss about calling the isthmus more of a thoroughfare than a city.

remiss?

Michelle wrote:
Funny I stumbled upon this site as most of this summer Iâ€™ve been unrelentlessly comparing Ann Arbor to Madsion.

relentlessly?

Scott wrote:
That made the eniue easier to handle.

enuii?

I mean, sheesh. Madison wins in a TKO.
posted by byproxy on July 23rd, 2007 at 4:53 pm
BTW, byproxy, it’s “ennui”.
posted by Nick on July 23rd, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Yes: enuii. Saw the typo as I hit he submit button.
posted by Scott on July 23rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
oops. yea relentlessly. i knew that word was wrong when i was typing it..
posted by Michelle on July 23rd, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Oh I see, now it all makes sense. Are you seriously looking for a $700 hard wood floor elite/luxury apartment in Ann Arbor. I was sympathetic to your blog all these years until now.
posted by EJ on July 23rd, 2007 at 10:10 pm
The train station in on Depot. Head west.
posted by Roko Joe on July 24th, 2007 at 10:11 am
So weird… I was just talking about the comparison of madison and aa this morning. Here’s a summary of our conversation:

Mad-town is so much nicer to bike around than in AA. The pathways, the lakes, etc. make Madison very bike friendly.

Madison also has better beer and bars too.

Lastly, Madison also graduates a lot of students (resident and non) that STAY in Wisconsin… so there isn’t the brain drain that plagues Michigan. Everyone I’ve met in my grad program here from MI is very anxious to leave there home state FOREVER. Kind of sad actually… Meanwhile, I’m counting down the days (243) until I blow this popsicle stand and return to WI.
posted by I heart WI on July 24th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
OK, I am confused… To all those who have lived in both places, but currently live in A2 - if A2 sucks so bad, why not take yourselves back to Madison. As for the person who said that the townies think they are better than everyone else - take a reality check. Most locals ARE NOT SONS AND DAUGHERS OF DOCTORS! I grew up in A2 - the daughter of hard working regular folks who took care of locals and students alike. Lastly, to “I heart WI” - I too am counting they days until you blow that popsicle stand and return to WI - Ann Arbor doesn’t need your negative energy - no constructive words, just put-downs for a town that provided you your education. You don’t even know how to use the language properly - you are in a grad program? YIKES I am frightened for the future of this country! The proper use is “their”, not there, when speaking in terms of posession.
posted by Sue on July 24th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Sue, remember old Shandong saying: Grammar police should always use spellcheck.
posted by Confucious on July 24th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Grammar Police Sue, remember old Shandong saying: “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself”
posted by Confucious on July 24th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Grammar Police Sue, remember old Shandong saying: “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.”
posted by Confucious on July 24th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
I love the ‘If you don’t like it, you can get out’ mentality.

If I could, I would. In a heartbeat. But my career is more important to me than the horrible dandruff, boredom, fucking cold, etc that I’ve experienced here. Sure, I can suck it up for another couple of years. But don’t worry–I’ll take my brain and leave the state like everyone else.
posted by Pants Rule on July 24th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Sue wrote:

“…no constructive words, just put-downs for a town that provided you your education….”

That’s the problem–UM owns Ann Arbor, too fucking much of it. I saw the diversity dwindle in the 1990s because the university suck up more property and drove taxes up for African Americans on the north west side.

Whatever happened to the Black elks Lodge? Is is still there?

Have fun in AA, Sue.
posted by Scott on July 24th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Sue, I’m here for the same reasons aaio is - grad school. Now that I’ve finished, I’ll be on my way. Frankly, I’m currently looking at bigger cities than both Madison and Ann Arbor, but if I were to choose between the two (or just about any small or medium sized city with a major public university), I’d take Madison. Hands down.
posted by Alex B on July 24th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Yeah, i remember being in grad school. I also remember relentlessly putting down the city back then because for some reason i wanted to feel much more worldly or some such garbage. You know, “Oh, this place sucks so bad, you should live in____, its SO much better!”

Then i grew up.

Is Ann Arbor a social draw for grad students and young professionals? No. But Ann Arbor is a great place for people with families. One day all the youngsters just out of school flocking to places like Chicago, NY, DC (just like I did) for the social aspects will invariably move back to places like Ann Arbor to raise a family. Oh yes you will.

And Madison? Who can deal with all the Sconnies!
posted by marco. polo. on July 24th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
For a bunch of people that consider people from Ann Arbor to be stuck up, I find it ironic that you all went out of your way to find a site criticizing the city, waste time correcting one another’s grammar, and just generally whine about it’s awfulness. I heard of this complain-a-blog from one of my friends. You really just sit here and complain about a city that for some excuse or another, you can’t seem to leave? Be Real. If you are as informed of an individual as you think you are, then perhaps you should have looked into the city before you came here, before you go crying to a website where “your kind” of other ignorant, elitists reside. If you go to grad school or fawn over your career here, and it is so awful, then leave, you won’t be missed! Saying that you’ll “stick it out” as if you’re some sort of legend for doing so is nothing more than an excuse and another jab at your own self-righteousness. You should have done research before you came here if you are as “worldly” as you say.

Nope, I’m not perfect, in fact I’m sure there are dozens of spelling errors in here, and that you might not even understand what I myself am whining about. My point is at least I embrace what I have, as opposed to sourcing out all the negatives. Don’t be so pompous as to think you have any right to complain about our quality of living, when clearly yours sucks just as much if you go running to a blog to complain about it.
posted by go.blue. on July 25th, 2007 at 1:24 am
Actually, we will be missed. When all of us ignorant elitists leave Michigan, we will take our brains with us. Doctors, business people, scientists, etc won’t be sticking around to help Michigan get out of its economic black pit of despair. Michigan will continue to be the state that at one time had industry and now has abandoned buildings.

An old mentor once told me, “Don’t pick a grad school based on the weather.” That includes social and political climate, too. UM is an amazing school, and I feel lucky to be able to go there. I don’t have to like the town it’s in, and I don’t.
posted by Pants Rule on July 25th, 2007 at 7:46 am
A pro-AA comment with “quality of [life]”. Shocking.

Clearly, Ann Arbor’s sense of humor is overrated as well.
posted by HNG on July 25th, 2007 at 8:12 am
In regard to pantsrules post of 7/25 7:46a ; please go_ we will take the chance of losing your brainpower and somehow we will survive w/o you.
posted by ZIGGY on July 25th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Ann Arbor is funny, sort of. It was an island -intellectually, socially-in a blue collar manufacturing, and previously until very recently, a very consumeristic area, and it itselfed, morphed into a tony area to live. Now that you basically can’t sell a house around here-(does that mean nobody wants to stay, and nobody gets to go?) I think it really is going to have identity problems.
posted by Emilia on July 25th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Sounds like everybody quit work early yesterday and got hammered. Bitchy drunk last night and sullenly hungover this morning.

And I thought I had carved out that niche for myself.
posted by Parking Structure Dude! on July 25th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Pants Rule explains my basic feelings on the matter. The university directly makes/made A2 worth living in for me and indirectly makes it worth living in for all the townies who complain about it. Of course, since Michigan and Wisconsin both have excellent graduate programs in my area, I might have applied to Madison if I hadn’t been taken in by the A2 hype.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on July 25th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
really? so somehow you see people from Ann Arbor to be stuck up, but you’re so ignorant as to think that this state couldn’t thrive without your “brain”? Thats one hell of a self-righteous comment. Get Real.
posted by go.blue on July 25th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
A pro-AA comment with â€œquality of [life]â€. Shocking.

Clearly, Ann Arborâ€™s sense of humor is overrated as well.
posted by HNG on July 25th, 2007 at 8:12 am

yep, thank goodness we have such elitists as yourself to keep us in check! God forbid somebody actually live somewhere and not be able to pick out all the awful things about it!

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.” - Maya Angelou
posted by freak.out! on July 25th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Well, Ann Arbor is stuck up, and many educated folks will leave, but that really has been the case for years. People come here to get educated, and there really are a lot of other nice, interesting, thriving places to live then Michigan. Michigan needs to find something else to do to get its economy moving, and that answer may or may not come from a Michigan student. U of M was just a particularly good state school that got powered for years by the money the autos generated. Educated people will be following money, not necessarily the people who start a whole new enterprises.
posted by Emilia on July 25th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
who are you to be calling anyone stuck up? You are one person, like me, like everyone else, whether you like it or not. why do you think you have to power to call names? Are you perfect? Just wondering…
posted by freak.out! on July 25th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Oh yeah, Maya Angelou! Let’s reduce a great figure in the Civil Rights movement to defend petty insecurities experienced by the self-righteous citizens of a medium-sized Midwestern college town. Could the collective self-image be more over-inflated? Perhaps we can invoke Noam Chomsky in the next green space debate.

“Are you perfect? Just wonderingâ€¦”

If I say “yes” and agree with Emilia, will you take your indignation and go away?

You are stuck up; accept it and move on.
posted by Indi on July 25th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
“You really just sit here and complain about a city that for some excuse or another, you canâ€™t seem to leave?”

I left. Does that mean I can complain about Ann Arbor now? Because one of the things I’m glad to get away from is douchebags telling me what I can and can’t complain about.

“Be Real. If you are as informed of an individual as you think you are, then perhaps you should have looked into the city before you came here, before you go crying to a website where â€œyour kindâ€ of other ignorant, elitists reside.”

Yeah, I shoulda done my research when my folks moved to Ann Arbor, you know, when I was seven. Twenty years later, I’m out, and I’ll bet that I know much more about the city than you do, Chachi.
posted by JS on July 25th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
you are ignorant. grow up.
posted by freak.out! on July 25th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Way to support your points, Freakazoid.
posted by JS on July 25th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Chachi?…What? You’re right, you probably do know more about this city than me, since I have only recently started going to school here. However, you came and you left, and now you decide to your nicks at it?

The second comment you quoted was directed towards those who come to school here and can do nothing but complain. Being seven, obviously you didn’t have much of a choice. But being 18+ and deciding on your own will to come here is, in my opinion, a little different. I thought the context would be obvious, my apologies
posted by go.blue. on July 25th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
JS, the comment was intended for Indi and not you…
posted by freak.out! on July 25th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
“Chachi?â€¦What? Youâ€™re right, you probably do know more about this city than me, since I have only recently started going to school here. However, you came and you left, and now you decide to your nicks at it?”

No, I’ve been getting my nicks in for years. Perhaps you didn’t realize that, as moving away has drastically reduced the amount of time I’ve spent on this site.

“The second comment you quoted was directed towards those who come to school here and can do nothing but complain. Being seven, obviously you didnâ€™t have much of a choice. But being 18+ and deciding on your own will to come here is, in my opinion, a little different. I thought the context would be obvious, my apologies”

Given that you’re entirely missing the context in which this site exists and these comments are submitted, a context which has been reiterated ad nauseum for, what, like four years now, perhaps you should lurk more and post less.
posted by JS on July 25th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Please take your ad hominem elsewhere or back up your comments.

I actually fall between the jen and Parking Structure Dude camps of sort of liking Ann Arbor and still believing it is completely deserving of the ridicule heaped on it not only by this site, but much of the rest of the state.

Believer it or not, this state does need those “brains” for which you have such a casual appreciation. Changing the economy from a manufacturing base to, well, anything else is going to require a lot of intellectual capital. Here’s the rub: the intellectual workforce that this state desperately needs comes from places like U of M. U of M students form much of their opinion about this state from Ann Arbor. And they are leaving, educations in hand, to other states and cities.

Perhaps, and I’m just saying perhaps, it would be a better approach for friends like freak.out! and go.blue. to reflect on why people like Pants Rule and JS left Ann Arbor in the first place. For a town that practically bursts with the pride of being above wherever a cut is made, an invitation for self-reflection should be
a welcome thing.
posted by Indi on July 25th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
I actually agree with you, and I get what you’re saying. I was only playing the devil’s advocate, I didn’t think it would become so personal. My friend freak.out! and I have only just been messin’ around.

With that said, I still think it’s important to recognize that not all of Ann Arbor is a certain way. I just moved here, does that make me a stuck up person? Just for living here? I’d hate to think so. I can’t even lie, I actually enjoy it here so far, but I do indeed hear where you’re coming from.

Thats all I’m trying to say, sorry if I’ve actually upset you. I figured this would just bring a debate as opposed to a feud. My apologies.
posted by go.blue. on July 26th, 2007 at 12:52 am
“yep, thank goodness we have such elitists as yourself to keep us in check! God forbid somebody actually live somewhere and not be able to pick out all the awful things about it!”

And thank you for proving my point.

By the way, I take being called “elitist” as a compliment.
posted by HNG on July 26th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I think what Sue was trying to say was:
“Don’t Let The Door Hit You In The Ass.”
posted by Roko Joe on July 26th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
“An old mentor once told me, â€œDonâ€™t pick a grad school based on the weather.â€

How many people have received this advice? All this needs is the line “You won’t see the grey from inside the graduate library.”

Pants Rule, are you my husband in disguise? If so I thought you liked it here.
posted by christina on July 26th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Heh. *looks down at distinct lack of penis* nope.

I guess it’s just standard (and of course good) advice. But it makes sense.
posted by Pants Rule on July 26th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Having grown up in Madison (27 years total) and now living in Ann Arbor, Madison wins hands down. Better nightlife, friendlier people, better atmosphere. Funny - as you move closer to the East coast people become more pretentious/snobish. Go Badgers!
posted by C on July 26th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Economic transformation is an area Ann Arbor is leading Michigan. Soon the whole state will be based on overpriced restaurants and scented candle stores. It’s worked for Petoskey!

Hell, if Michigan could get commenters JS and Brandon back, it would be a huge victory for the state. I don’t know that these two are the kind to found companies or add jobs to the economy, but they are the kind to make cities in the state more appealing for those who will.
posted by Dale on July 27th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Well, I turned down a job at UW-Madison to come to Michigan. Yes, Madison has the lake, which is sweet, and their amazing ice cream, which seems underappreciated as an attraction in this discussion. Housing is a bit cheaper, but there are fewer and less varies sorts of houses within walking distance of campus. There is a bit more of a farming flavor there, and air travel to almost anywhere involves two stops, which is a pain if you travel a lot. I think in the end (putting aside the fact that UW-Madison is in financial trouble in a wayy that UM is not) it may have been the house we looked at in Madison with two rooms devoted to a teddy bear collection that sealed the deal for Ann Arbor.

Now, Seattle versus Ann Arbor. That one is clear. Too bad the other UW doesn’t pay serious salaries.
posted by econjeff on July 27th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
If you like Madison, try heading over to EAST LANSING where you’ll find a similarly rated school and probably similar people, and you can avoid overpriced restaurants and likely find plenty of beer and brats or whatever people eat in Madison.

The reason people who come to Ann Arbor for grad school get so negative is b/c the town is just somewhat busy and unfriendly underneath its tree-filled exterior. It’s really a lot more like New Haven than Madison, in spite of its Midwestern location. Blame that on the East Coast transplants, not the harmless townies.

When new grad students arrive and find that their pomposity doesn’t buy them much respect, they get resentful. Then they take the long wait at Cafe Zola personally and walk by Rick’s and hastily draw all sorts of unsavory conclusions about UM undergrads.

So there. If you don’t like the high rent prices, try living in San Francisco or New York. Kerrytown is a steal. BTW, if you don’t live in Kerrytown then you are overrated. Move out of that stupid apartment complex near the highway and get a life.
posted by thisblogiswayoverrated on July 28th, 2007 at 5:53 am
“Pants Rule, are you my husband in disguise? If so I thought you liked it here”

Sorry Christina, I’m right here under my initials.

I do like it here well enough, but god knows you’ve heard me bitch about life in “the Beige City.”

And the advice I got was “Daniel… You cannot see the sleet and the snow from inside the museum or the library.”
posted by dcwp on July 29th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
As a current UW-Madison undergrad who spent countless days in A2, with many friends at UM, I think Madison wins hands down. More urban, the beautiful lakes, less pretentious (hard to believe sometimes), with the amazing resources of the capitol. A few of my buddies at Michigan have told me they’d love to re-do senior year of high school and take a more serious look at Wisco.
posted by Critical Badger on August 3rd, 2007 at 9:35 am
I enjoyed my five years at the U of W/Madison. After graduation I was a life guard
at the U hospital pier. At that time it was wooden with a second tier diving platform.

I started a Jazz Workshop with Ben Sidran. We
brought in Roland Kirk and jammed with Maynard Ferguson’s musicans. I still have a tape of the session I recorded - now a CD. Billy Hanigsburg played bass with them

I was a member of the Socialist Club for three years. And a member of the anti-war (Vietnam) movement. I had a list of 50 speakers as head of the speakers bureau.

I was in Ann Arbor once. It too seems like a great campus. They have done something with their downtown area Madison should have done - they perserved it! University Avenue had some great places now gone. One was Lorenzo’s Restaurant. I worked there as a student at noon.

Bill Munger ‘64
posted by Bill Munger on August 4th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Note to the AA city council: create an artificial lake on the edge of campus to appease hipsters.
posted by nick on August 5th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
1. Madison has better x-country skiing. Quite a bit colder than Ann Arbor despite similar latitude. The down side is there are some garden plants that grow well in A2 that just won’t make it in Madison.

2. The lakes are pretty. They ain’t like a clear, sand-ringed lake in Benzonia or a rocky lake in the northwoods, but they add variety . . . even if it is a bit weedy.

3. Not too far from Madison to good rock climbing at Devil’s Lake. On the other hand, Nichols is a more scenic arb than the UW arb.

4. Madision is obsessed with “sprawl.” Ann Arbor is obsessed with the “the greenbelt.” The folks in A2 have managed to move beyond talk and into actual land acquisition. Some folks in Madison want to move that gosh darn noisy airport out of the city . . . and into a remote pocket of Dane county.

5. Madison is not close to a major international airport . . . Ann Arbor is. Sadly, moving the airport to a remote part of Dane county won’t ever produce a direct flight to Tokyo.

6. UW is a good school, but not at the level of UM. It is also not a well endowed school and is at the whim of the Wisconsin legislature.
posted by Seth on August 7th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Thatâ€™s the problemâ€“UM owns Ann Arbor, too fucking much of it. I saw the diversity dwindle in the 1990s because the university suck up more property and drove taxes up for African Americans on the north west side.

Whatever happened to the Black elks Lodge? Is is still there?

Have fun in AA, Sue.

posted by Scott on July 24th, 2007 at 7:45 pm

Scott - I no longer live in A2 - was driven out years ago by self-important, self-involved people who didn’t want to make any contribution to the community, but wanted everything their way and complained loudly to anyone who would listen. I agree that Ann Arbor has driven the middle class from the center of town, but keep in mind that it was not the existing local folks that caused that exodus, it was the incoming people who were of the NIMBY mentality. I am dismayed by the lack of respect on this blog and the superior airs that some posters exude is astounding.

CONFUCIOUS - how obtuse of you… Does it hurt to create your own sentences??

TO ROKO JOE - right on dude…
posted by Sue on August 8th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Pants Rule: Did you leave yet? I wish you good fortune and the ability to find a city that exemplifies your idea of the perfect place to live. When you do go, you can add your name to the list of students that bailed after gaining all they could from the University, and the town it is located in. The brain power drain is a real thing - are you aware that you perpetuate that cycle by leaving. Being a part of the problem in no way offers a solution…
posted by Sue on August 8th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
You are without a doubt on drugs: Wisconsin People are complete douchebags–the term was invented for them—the “citizens” of Madison are the worst. Can be further described as “ignorant and arrogant–and damn proud of these attributes.”
posted by Tom Teler on July 20th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
YA DER DEM GUYS FROM WISCONSIN LOVE DAT DER BRETT FARVE DER HEY…. MADSION PEOPLE ARE THE CONSUMATE DOUCHEBAGS. GEIN AND DAHMER ATE HUMAN FLESH BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED THAT IT TASTED INFINATELY BETTER THAN BRATWURST. GO PACK–DER HEY!
posted by Don M on July 20th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
My experience with Wisconsin folks is that they are truly arrogant–for no good reason. I think I would agree to call them: “douchebags”.
posted by SHELIA on July 20th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Bucky Badger is a rodent–and he doesn’t bathe. I think they at least shower in Ann Arbor.
posted by Larry P on July 20th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Bucky Badger does not stink. He is the best mascot.
posted by ROB on July 20th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I love the story of the Green Bay Packer fan who was piloting a plane that was out of control and about to crash land. He put on a “Cheesehead” plastic hat filled with air and eventually survived as the hat absorbed the trauma of impact; he credited the headware with saving his life.
posted by Kaptain Krunch on July 21st, 2008 at 6:01 pm

On Wisconsin

75 Responses to “On Wisconsin”

Leave a Reply