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| It don't get any lonelier than this [remainder in "comments."] This map is from 1868, so anyone who manages to find their house on it is a pure-D, dyed-in-the-wool Ypsilantian and no mistake. Forest Hill Cemetery Tour. Every Sunday through November 14. Ann Arbor�s unofficial city historian, Wystan Stevens, has been leading his popular interpretive tour of Ann Arbor�s oldest cemetery for over 20 years now. Stevens is an enchanting, wryly humorous raconteur, and he says that �the fall is the prettiest time of year for the graveyard.� If you haven�t been led around Forest Hill by Wystan, you don�t really know Ann Arbor! Canceled in case of heavy rain. 2�4:30 p.m. Meet at the gate on Observatory, just north of Geddes. $10 (children with adult, free) by advance reservation and at the gate. 662�5438.
 MYSTERY PHOTO: Here's a ca. 1900 snap of, of course, the water tower. Note the little pergola thingie on top, now gone. Here's my question: what's the vantage point of this picture? Is this looking west from Washtenaw, with a now-gone Normal College (EMU) building in the background? Is it looking east from Cross, with a now-mysterious building in the background? The key to figuring this out lies in that cryptic building...what's your idea? ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-23-8:44 p.m.: THIS BEAUTIFUL MAP from the first quarter of the 19th century omits Ypsilanti, although Ypsi is (cough) much older than Ann Arbor. If you look at the 4 French claims on the Risdon map, in a post below, the northward claim belonged to a M. LaChambre in 1811. And of course French trader Gabriel Godfrey built his log trading post on the northwest side of the intersection of Michigan and Huron, across from the Riverside Arts Center, in 1809, back when Michigan's Caucasian population was 4,762.You can see Potawatomie chief Tonquish's village north of Ypsi. Tonquish is a shadowy figure on the web. Both Canton and Westland give his biography a patronizing perfunctory sum-up. He is a figure whose life, ended when he was murdered by settlers, marked the early 19th-century shift of the Ypsi area from Potawatomie, Huron, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Wyandot residence to white residence. The Ypsi area, and all of southeastern Michigan, was bought from native peoples on November 17, 1807 for $10,000. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-23-7:34 p.m.: CHOOSE YOUR PARTNER, PLEASE: In her ongoing quest to collect all Ypsi-related songs on this blog, Ypsidixit is delighted to find song number eleven. Ypsidixit, whose dance card is always full, lately, anyways, will nevertheless squeeze you in* for a turn around the ballroom to Carl Zerrahn's 1860 instrumental piano tune the Ypsilanti Galop. *with one exception. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-23-8:03 p.m.: OH, BOY: Here's an astounding historical site where you can browse through "rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections." Yow!Let's see what treasures it holds. I've also got another amazing and beautiful Ypsi map on deck that I'm anxious to show you later tonight, but I have to do some research on it first. Should you peruse the memory.loc.gov site and find any local history gems, it would be fantastic if you kindly posted them in "comments," and thank you in advance. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-23-12:46 p.m.: THE 1825 ORANGE RISDON MAP, publicized in the East, drew many 19th-century settlers to the Ypsi area. Here's a snippet. You can see that pesky "u" in Ann Arbor, the surprising spelling of "Dixboro," the original French claims in Ypsi, a cluster of settlements at Woodruff's Grove, and no railroads (not till 1839).Also, there's the Old Chicago Road. In 1825, the government wanted to make this sometimes mucky trail into a good road for the military, and sent 39-year-old surveyor Orange Risdon to survey it, making the now-Michigan Avenue one of the nation's first federally-funded roads. Ypsidixit loves this gorgeous map made by surveyor and Saline founder Orange Risdon.
"The government does have a role here," said Sen. Alan Sanborn, R-Richmond. "Children of divorce have a greater propensity to get in trouble." Boy, is that an Orwellian slippery-slope argument, not to mention completely unfounded.  BOOKS READ: "Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood" by Julie Gregory is the harrowing, gripping memoir of a little West Virginian girl whose mother suffered from Munchausen's-By-Proxy Syndrome. MBPS is a disease in which most usually a mother is convinced that her child is sick, and makes it her life's calling to pester doctor after doctor to pinpoint the "disease" from which her child "suffers"--an imaginary disease. It's a form of attention-getting which can have disasterous effects on the child. Gregory details the almost unreadable surgeries and endless doctor visits she suffered before a college class on MBPS alerted her to the true nature of her tortured history. Ypsidixit, who has seen MBPS up close--too close--and personal (not in her mother, I hasten to say), was saddened and troubled by this dark yet ultimately victorious book. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-22-5:29 p.m.: THE SCENE: SWEATY BIKER WOMAN IN SILVER helmet and shades, poised in the street in front of the traffic light in front of the Sidetrack, gazing at the Thompson Building and imagining the wooden cornice it once wore, as detailed in James Mann's Pulitzer short-listed book "Down by the Depot in Ypsilanti." Waiting for the light. Man walks into the street from the Sidetrack, waving his arms at Ypsidixit. Pleasant-looking bodybuilder type in a white T-shirt. He's still waving as he approaches. Here he is, right by her side.Ypsidixit: (with ladylike politeness) "Hello, how are you?" The light changes and Ypsidixit bumps over the tracks, mystified as always. Things like this happen to her all the time. Sometimes she feels she's living in a dream. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-22-12:11 p.m.: WHILE BIKING TO THE MICHIGAN LEAGUE THROUGH A GLORIOUS FALL DAY in order to splurge on the rare treat of tickets to the October 3 Laurie Anderson show, (yay!) Ypsidixit was kindly advised by two gentlemen in a rust-spangled truck to "get a real bike." Ypsidixit is now mildly puzzled as to how she manages an 18-mile daily commute on a fake bike; oh well.�The End of the Moon�: University Musical Society. Celebrated performance artist Laurie Anderson, a longtime local favorite, performs her new solo multimedia show. Not unlike her mesmerizing previous show Happiness,* Moon mixes spoken word, song, computer-generated sound, and live keyboards and violin into a hypnotic, austerely haunting pool of sound and music that provides the setting for Anderson�s penetrating lyrical meditations about war, aesthetics, spirituality, consumerism, and what she calls �the tangled ways in which we decide what is beautiful now.� 4 p.m., Power Center. Tickets $16�$40 in advance at the Michigan League and (if available) at the door. To charge by phone, call 764�2538 or (800) 221�1229. *which was lovely. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-22-9:13 a.m.: YPSIDIXIT IS FURIOUS on two levels concerning a successfully passed bill that mandates classes for divorcing couples with children, so that the parents "realize the effect of divorce on the kids." Right. The parents will never realize the effect of divorce on the kids, because they are not the kids. First objection: the class is useless. As if you'd learn anything you didn't already know. Duh.Second and more concerned objection: this goody-two-shoes idea would be horrible for an abused woman to have to go through. Absolutely horrible. This Freep story says abused women will be able to opt out or take the class seperately, but I'll believe that when I see it. All in all, this is about the most clueless piece of legislation I've seen this year. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-21-7:24 p.m.: AVE MARIA PARENTS concerned about the threatened move of Ave Maria College to Florida web-publish their impassioned letters to key A.M. players. Rumor has it that Monaghan will shut things down in 2007. Ypsidixit's concern is for the fate of the lovely old dignified possibly 19th-century square yellow Rosa Mystica building on Forest--the city, while slinging cash to the four winds for income tax studies, is in no position to buy and save it. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-21-6:40 p.m.: YPSIDIXIT IS STARTLED to read a Pittsfield Township oral history that discusses a gravel pit park on the southeast side of Platt and Ellsworth that she visited a couple weeks ago with a fellow gravel pit park enthusiast. William McCalla discusses hand-loading gravel into a horsedrawn wagon.More Pittsfield Township residents tell their stories. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-21-12:41 p.m.: YPSILANTI is thinking about spending $20,000 on a study about whether to impose a city income tax. The tax would need approval by voters. Issue is slated for discussion at the Oct. 5 City Council meeting.Story. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-20-11:02 p.m.: TENTH YPSILANTI SONG: In her ongoing quest to collect all songs written about Ypsi on this little blog, Ypsidixit has uncovered the tenth song written about Ypsi. James Mann's book listed seven, the 1940s "Burning Down Ypsilanti" was #8, "For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti" was #9, [the latter 2 songs appear in posts, below] and I now present to you Illinois-born folk singer songwriter Joel Mabus's "Rivethead," about Willow Run, as #10:RIVETHEAD Many years ago I left my home in old Kentucky [remainder in "comments"] ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-20-7:45 p.m.:
Started in 1853 by New York Methodist minister Charles Loring Brace to place East Coast orphans and street urchins into families out West, the orphan train brought 12,500 children ages 3--3!--to 16 to Michigan settlers' homes between 1854 and 1927. When they tell their stories, the orphans reported some common experiences. All thought they were riding the only orphan train, not one train in a vast migration of children. Most felt they were being punished. All were instructed not to contact their birth parents. Few had birth certificates, which caused lots of problems later in life. Some found loving homes and some found abusive ones. Some ran away from their new homes. Some were emotionally scarred for life. Around 200 Michigan orphan train orphans still live in Michigan today. Local singer-songwriter Jim Roll wrote a song based on the life of his relative Edward Vonderheide, "Eddie Rode the Orphan Train." Everything you ever wanted to know about the Orphan Train. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-20-12:12 p.m.: RIVER FLOOD: KIND READER BRETT sends a little historical vignette about a river flood: "here's a nice excerpt from Harvey Colburn's "Story of Ypsilanti" for your readers to contemplate:"The spring of 1918 was marked by a disastrous flood that inundated the low-lying portion of Ypsilanti and wrought great destruction to dams and bridges in the city and its vicinity. The cause was a sudden deluge of rain that raised to the flood stage the river which had not yet carried off he great surplus of water from the melting of. ice and snow. The Superior Dam a short distance up the river used by the Edison Light and Power Company, gave way at four o'clock in the morning of March 14, and a wall of water, three or four feet in height, swept down the stream. The Peninsular dam used by the Paper Company and built only two years previously was soon swept away, as was also the bridge spanning the stream just below it. The lower terrace of the river was filled with a rushing flood. The Forest Avenue bridge was damaged, and at Michigan Avenue the flood swept over the east end of the bridge while buildings in the vicinity were inundated. Down the stream, residents of the flats were warned of their danger and escaped from their homes with the exception of two families who were taken off by boats during the forenoon. The driver of a milk wagon, attempting to traverse Race Street at an early hour, was caught by the flood. He succeeded in loosening his team of mules, but was himself carried some distance down stream before gaining a refuge and dragging himself from the grip of the current." ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-20-2:29 a.m.:Bird's-Eye Night View of Washtenaw County tiny moving light -L. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-20-1:30 a.m.: KIND READER BRETT left a question about the paper mill dam buried way down there; I'm reposting it with his permission:"When i read ypsidweller's statement about peninsular dam being cracked i ran down there with my camera like a bat out of hell. Despite the obvious ironic humor of 'water street' turning into 'watery street', I did NOT see any signs of damage to the dam face, beyond some minor irregularities in water flow which could just be algae or detritus build-up. If anyone could point me to the precise location of the crack, I will be forever grateful." ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-19-11:06 p.m.: WASHTENAW POOR HOUSE AND INSANE ASYLUM: Ypsidixit and a nature-loving friend visited peaceful County Farm Park, where she learned to her amazement that the site used to be the Washtenaw Poor House and Insane Asylum. Built in 1837 as a working farm, the residents grew all their own food. In 1917, a brick infirmary was built on the current site of the rec center. In 1967, the infirmary was ordered to be modernized or closed. It was vacated in 1972 (the same year Project Grow began the community gardens) and torn down in 1979. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-19-7:59 a.m.: AVAST, MATEYS: September 19 is officially "Talk Like A Pirate Day." It goes without saying that chief harpooner Ypsidixit would very, very much like to hear Eric *, AAIO, and other kind readers talk like a pirate. LOOK LIVELY, YE BILGE RATS!** English-to-Pirate translator.**a pirate term of fraternal esteem. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-18-7:40 p.m.: NINTH YPSILANTI SONG: James Mann's book "Down by the Depot" presents 7 Ypsi songs*, "Burning Down Ypsilanti" is the 8th, and Ypsidixit has uncovered a 9th Ypsi song, the mystical little mournful banjo number "For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti," by Michigan singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. You can listen to it here (5.4 MB mp3). Review of Stevens's album "Greetings from Michigan."LYRICS: I have called you children, Morning comes in paradise, If there's anything to say, I was dressed embarrassment [?] Even if I come back, Like a father to impress, I have called you preacher, I'll do anything for you (4X) I did everything for you (8X). *not 5 as I previously said--I misremembered. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-18-4:03 p.m.: DOES YOUR HUMMER SEEM A LITTLE...CRAMPED LATELY? Good news for you: this baby's rollin' off the production line as we speak! A mere $100,000 will park one of these beauties in your driveway (you don't need a commercial license to drive it)* where the prominence of this "status symbol" will make you the envy of all. Except me, who feels a bit like screaming right about now. Story.*this is the part that especially troubles Ypsidixit. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-17-8:02 p.m.: MALARIA STRUCK DOWN THOUSANDS OF 19TH-CENTURY WASHTENAW COUNTY SETTLERS and was a serious seasonal problem many scores of magnitude beyond West Nile, Ypsidixit has learned from tonight's perusal of 19th-century newspapers. The county was a swampy place prior to drainage, and 19th-century papers record the grim results of the once-common disease that was then called "fever and ague" or "fever and chills":YPSILANTI: "Physicians report many persons afflicted with malarial fever." --Ann Arbor Argus, September 24, 1880. YPSILANTI: "Mr. Salver, janitor of the Baptist Church of Ypsilanti, wife and five children were sick with malarial fever last week." --Ann Arbor Argus, October 1, 1880. DEXTER: "The mephitism arising from our foul pond and causing so much malaria has prostrated the wife of Rev. D. Edgar, editor of the Leader." --Ann Arbor Argus, October 1, 1880. YORK TOWNSHIP: "Malarial fevers are still afflicting the people of this vicinity." --Ann Arbor Argus, October 1, 1880. [But no one then knew that malaria is caused by mosquitos]: DEXTER: "To the people who wish to know the cause of so much sickness in our village, we would respectfully refer them to the stifling odiferous exhalation from the decomposing surface of our pond." --Ann Arbor Argus, October 1, 1880. 19th-century proverb and more info: I think it's time for another coffee. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-16-8:09 p.m.: THE 108-YEAR-OLD HISTORY OF RECUMBENT BICYCLES: People think of recumbent bikes, such as Ypsidixit's, as futuristic fads piloted by unshaved tree-hugging Communist weirdos*, but in fact their history dates back to 1896, when a Monsieur Chaland first exhibited the bike pictured--one remarkably similar to Ypsidixit's. Ridiculed in the late 19th-century press, recumbents faded from the scene till the 1930s, when they were banned from bike races because they were too damn fast. All the world's bike speed records are held by 'bents, the fastest being 80 miles an hour, achieved by Sam Whittingham in 2001. The upright bike speed record? A laughable 30 mph, "achieved" by Chris Boardman in 2000. Ypsidixit, a slowish biker who nevertheless likes to go real fast on the St. Joe's path and the secret path behind the stadium on her venerable century-old craft, chuckles indulgently at the cars she passes. *not terribly far from the truth in Ypsidixit's case, unfortunately. Except that I shave. More on recumbent-bike history. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-16-5:24 a.m.: TO NEW KIND READERS FROM THE FREE PRESS STORY: Welcome to my tiny dark green corner of the world. Thank you for visiting. Take your time, poke around, look through the archives there on the left (the ones with plant names) get to know my kind blogfamily of regular commentors, learn about Ypsi, and enjoy your visit. There are a number of posts further down this page with piles of sometimes testy comments--you might enjoy reading those. I value all comments, so leave one. Glad you came. God [or someone] bless the sainted Mike Wendland (cue the pipe organ). ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-16-5:16 a.m.: MIKE WENDLAND'S "BEST BLOGS OF MICHIGAN" story is in today's Detroit Free Press, featuring yours truly. I'd be very flattered if you read it; thanks in advance. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-15-6:23 p.m.: THE SIX SONGS OF YPSILANTI: James Mann's wonderful book Down by the Depot in Ypsilanti lists the lyrics of five historical songs written about Ypsilanti. Today, Ypsidixit found the sixth. I was poring through an exhibit of WW II photographs at the Museum on Main Street today during lunch, and there it was in a case. It's the song of a young man going off to war who sounds pretty bitter about the prospect and also about his hometown, Yspilanti. If anyone can decode the "little people in grease" line I'd be grateful.Burning Down Ypsilanti Key of C minor. Hey, Charlie, shake my hand [chorus 1] Oh, Virginia, you gotta get me outta here Well I been hearin' 'bout World War Two [chorus 1] [chorus 2] I'm down in the left lane Well, the kids are hangin' around in a broken down paper mill Oh, Virginia, you gotta get me outta here [chorus 2] I'm down on the beltway around Washington DC --unknown author ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-15-2:49 p.m.: LEGENDARY MIT LINGUISTICS PROFESSOR NOAM CHOMSKY is coming to the U-M campus October 29 and lecturing on "Biolinguistics and Human Cognitive Capacities" at the Modern Languages Building auditorium 4 at 2 p.m. Although I'll probably only understand about one in three words, I'll be there--early. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-15-6:19 a.m.: RUSTBOY WROTE A VERY GOOD POEM about a brake cylinder as his most recent post: it's worth a visit. Makes me think it'd be really cool to assemble an anthology of Ypsi writings, something with a better title than "Write Here in Ypsilanti." Rustboy's poem, some of Raymond's haikus, the script of Naia Venturi's wonderful play "The Smeet Frog Conspiracy," lyrics to an original song from one of Leighton's bands, stories of explorations of Ypsi by Ypsidweller, Mark Maynard's account (from a recent issue of Crimewave) of moving into his house in Ypsi and the interesting items he found in his yard, some historical musings from James Mann, Hillary's account of canning, the lyrics of the five extant songs about Ypsi, and from yours truly, the review of the Civil War Muster* published a couple years ago and maybe a poem. I think it would be GREAT.*rumor has it that the Muster will return this coming April. Yay! ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-15-5:10 a.m.: TWO YPSI NEWS TIDBITS: Bombadill's coffee shop is officially open downtown. They're serving "hot and cold coffee drinks, teas, Italian sodas, pastries (bagels, scones, pastries, etc.), cakes, soups and sandwiches." Hours: 7 a.m.- 0 p.m. M-F, 7-11 Sat, and 11-7 Sun. Take your laptop--they have wireless access.Also, the Salvation Army is seeking funds from the 1.5 billion bequest left to the S.A. by Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's, to build a new rec center. "The City of Ypsilanti will hold public hearings on Monday, September 20 and Tuesday, September 21, 2004 to receive input from the community on the Salvation Army�s three preferred City-owned sights for the center: Parkridge Park, Recreation Park and Waterworks Park. On Monday, September 20, 2004 the Recreation Commission will meet at Parkridge Community Center at 6:00 PM to receive public input and discuss the issue as well as the normal business of the Commission. On Tuesday, September 21, 2004 the City Council will hold a public hearing to receive public input and discuss the issue as part of the regularly scheduled City Council meeting. The City Council meeting will be held at the Senior Center, 1015 Congress, at 7:30 PM. City staff will provide information about these City owned sites at both meetings. Please visit the City�s website at www.cityofypsilanti.com for updated information or contact Assistant City Manager Robert Bruner at (734) 483-7272 or the Salvation Army of Washtenaw County�s Director of Development James Mueller at (734) 668-8353." ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-14-5:02 p.m.: THIS MYSTICAL LOGO is the symbol for what U-M institution?1. U-M Department of Brain Lightning Ypsidixit bristled a bit at the usual Keillorian paternalism (that bit about the businessmen...as if the party never had women) and quietly wondered what qualifications a radio comedian might have to write political analysis, but found the rather reasonable answer in the last para. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-14-1:46 a.m.: 60 LEADING SCIENTISTS, POLLED, CHOOSE THEIR FAVORITE MOVIE: which turns out to be one of Ypsidixit's all-time favorites, the 1982 classic Blade Runner. Thought-provoking essay on Blade Runner. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-13-6:44 p.m.: THE HIDDEN MEANING OF YOUR NAME AND "SOUND SYMBOLISM": There's a linguistic school of thought that says that letters or combinations of letters denote feelings or actions. Consider words beginning with "sw": swish, swoosh, swath, swoop, swirl. All denote something like a cutting, curving motion through the air.Duke University linguistics professor Joseph Gilbert says, "look at the words that start with 'st'. Whether steadfast or just plain stubborn, they're almost all really stuck in one place (stop, stick, stand, stall, stoic, store, stack, still...), unless of course there's a raring, rearing, roaring 'r' in there who can get your 'st' 'started'." With this in mind, examine the hidden meaning of your name based on sound symbolism. Just type it in & hit "submit". RESULTS FOR 'LAURA": "Laurel wreath, bay tree: Latin. You are a deep thinker and student of life using your intuition and natural detective ability to seek truth and hidden knowledge. Peaceloving and compassionate you are nonetheless strong-willed and courageous in confronting challenges. Although your approach to life tends to be on a mental level it is important for you to see your ideas and concepts take form in the material world [whatever that means]. Your talents and leadership skills[I have zero leadership skills and just prefer to do things on my own] give you great potential for a distinguished career." ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-12-9:20 p.m.: URBAN EXPLORATION: the desolate Water Street Condos site.Ypsidixit and an adventurous companion carefully explored this spooky, toxic site of abandoned industrial buildings full of dark, bare inner rooms, broken windows, and fading hand-painted signs. Weeds growing on roofs. I kept glancing over my shoulder. We walked down the side of a long yellow factory on a crumbly asphalt road that curved into the parklike area next to the river, where a gaggle of mixed geese were strutting. Here, Ypsidixit's alert friend noted a bit of the old interurban track. Better yet, there was a connector plate with two 8" spikes! Wrapped in a handkerchief, the two rusty century-old relics of a bygone transportation were wheeled out to safety on the seat of a futuristic bike. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-12-6:04 a.m.: 19TH-CENTURY YPSILANTIANS HOPPED ON THE STORIED WABASH CANNONBALL in Belleville, where its east-west route had a stop, as depicted on this beautiful map (scroll right to see Michigan). The train's memorialized in the famous hobo ballad that dates from the 1880s and was first printed in 1904. May it always be remembered throughout all the land His earthly race is over and the curtains round him fall But we�ll carry him home to victory on the Wabash Cannonball. Many question who Daddy Claxton was, and other versions of the song have different names. Veteran folk singer Utah Phillips says that the name was usually the name of the most recently deceased prominent hobo that the singer knew, back in the days, anyways. The Wabash Cannonball made its last Detroit-St. Louis run in March of 1971, driven by Detroit train engineer J. L. Miller, who wore a Tigers baseball cap for the occasion. In May 1971 the brand-new Amtrak took over the line. Ypsidixit is thrilled to learn that, when she was a toddler, the Wabash was still rollin'. More on the Wabash Cannonball. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-11-3:24 p.m.: YPSIDIXIT IS CHARMED to find out that there is such a thing as "grass bonsai," kusamono bonsai, or, bonsai made of grass. Although a fervent plant lover, she has mixed feelings about this purple number, but likes these other examples. The interesting bit concerns lexicalization, or, the ideas in a culture important enough to create words for. FIRST LINK EXCERPT: "When kusamono is displayed with other traditional artwork such as calligraphy, [or a] painted scroll...it's referred to not as kusamono, but rather as shitakusa." That the language has specialized terms for these art concepts that other tongues like English lack (assuming "shitakusa" doesn't mean something bland like "decoration"), seems to indicate the language's speakers place a higher value on such concepts. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-10-9:44 p.m.: "COOL CITIES" TASK FORCE ISSUES NEW SURVEY: I got a note from the Cool Cities folks letting me know they have a new survey. It seems screwed up. After doing the first page, I was directed to a "thank-you" page. Then I visited Seat of the Revolution and found he'd posted on this, too. Seems they select which page you go to next based on your age. I tried taking it again with a faked, cooler profile--lower age, architecture grad degree--and the survey just wouldn't work at all.If they're using age as a sorting factor, I'm miffed. Granted, a crusty 37-year-old hermit may not be the ideal cool cities candidate. But we oldsters have been around the block and have a voice to contribute to the cool cities discussions. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-10-6:21 a.m.: (whispers) (don't forget to pick up a copy of the Free Press today. I was told by godlike tech reporter Mike Wendland that his feature on the Best Michigan Blogs would come out on Friday, God willing. Read all about my intriguing life & see fetching pictures of yours truly! [the pictures are fetching, anyways, if not the subject])UPDATE: After waiting feverishly for the paper before going to work, I find it's--not in there. Dangit! Probably got bumped to the weekend. Sorry for yet another false alarm--I'll let you know when the Freep runs it. If ever. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-09-8:44 p.m.: COOL CITIES START WITH COOL HOMESTEADS: Ypsidixit, impatient with the slow wheels of bureaucracy, is taking a proactive grassroots approach to this Cool Cities thing and is setting about making her own God�s little acre cool.An expensive set of �cool homestead� banners has been erected along the outside of my chain-link fence, which took time away from fixing a broken downspout and repairing the kitchen light�oh well. After detecting a chip in the cement foundation of the garage, I declared it "structurally unsound" and immediately locked it up, though it had been mighty useful till then. I�ve taken out a giant loan to erect a fancy new studio out back by my little river, hoping that it�ll pay for itself. Eventually. Someday. And I trashed my 19th-century paper-making machine to make way for a new wood-frame tool shed, which I�ll patch together as cheaply as possible. Of course, I may go bankrupt from debt, but I think it�s all a good investment. While I was busy with all this, the laundry piled up, the thermostat stopped working, the hot water heater died, and there�s a hole in the crawl space foundation. But--at least I�m cool now. Aren't I? ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-09-12:48 a.m.: YPSI "COOL CITY" COMMUNITY PARTY: Ypsi officially gets the grant money at a Riverside Arts Center awards ceremony-art reception Wednesday October 20. State reps will say the usual. Afterwards people can view artworks by Ypsi artists and enjoy food, beverages, and live music. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-08-7:04 p.m.: URBAN EXPLORATION: Following up on a tip from intrepid Ypsilanti explorer Ypsidweller, Ypsidixit today explored "the secret park of abandoned exercise equipment." Haunting.Secreted behind the northwest side of St. Joe's Hospital, 400 meters west of a sign for the Bright Horizons childcare center, a small dirt trail bleeds off of the new bike path. Ypsidixit rode down to find an abandoned paved exercise trail with warped, weatherworn exercise stations and 80s-era faded, rain-stained signs, invisible from the path. Desolate. Exercise rings hung from rusted bars like like giant handcuffs. Situp benches sagged, worn to silver by weather. Ypsidixit saw also the mysterious path leading down to the river and a possible glimpse of the fabled Bennett Castle, but, since the woods were pretty dark, decided to save that for a sunnier day. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-08-5:57 p.m.: YPSIDIXIT IS GETTING A BIT JADED WITH ALL THIS MEDIA COVERAGE: No sooner do I get home than I find yet another newspaper banging on my door: the WCC "Voice" newspaper. They're doing a story on the St. Joe's bike path (that should be a page-turner) and want to interview petite moi. Between nibbling on bonbons and painting her toenails gold, Ypsidixit doubts she'll have the time. Journalists. Feh. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-08-11:34 a.m.: LOCAL URBAN ARTISTS improve the Artrain* by adding art--but the News doesn't think so.*"America's only museum on a train"--as if putting staid exhibits like the recent "Art of Space" on a train improves them. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-08-10:12 a.m.: MORE FREIGHTHOUSE CLOSURE COVERAGE: James Mann's new article in the Courier. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-08-8:25 a.m.: DETROIT FREE PRESS TECH REPORTER MIKE WENDLAND delighted Ypsidixit by giving her a call at work to check some details. He's lively, funny, and pleasant to talk to. Vivacious. With-it. His story on the best of (unintelligible mutter) will come out on Friday--if the creek don't rise. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-07-7:39 p.m.: A COMPANY THAT MAKES CAMOUFLAGED CELL PHONE TOWERS. You've seen the fake-o pine tree. But how about a saguaro? Or a giant rock? Or the house of the Lord? "God...you're breaking up..." ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-07-7:18 p.m.: JIMMY CARTER'S well-written letter to Zell Miller.EXCERPT: "Zell, I have known you for forty-two years and have, in the past, respected you as a trustworthy political leader and a personal friend. But now, there are many of us loyal Democrats who feel uncomfortable in seeing that you have chosen the rich over the poor, unilateral preemptive war over a strong nation united with others for peace, lies and obfuscation over the truth, and the political technique of personal character assassination as a way to win elections or to garner a few moments of applause." YPSIDIXIT'S MEASURED REACTION: Who the hell names their kid Zell? ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-07-6:15 p.m.: ERIC * RAISES A GOOD QUESTION down there in the condo post:"Now that you mention it, what are the more pressing matters than Water Street or pathways?" Instead of new condos, I'd like to see the entire second story of businesses along downtown Michigan Ave developed into trendy high-ceilinged loft apartments. This would 1. appeal to the cool-cities creative-class loft-apartment type, 2. reuse existing space, 3. get more people on the street, stimulating business. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-07-12:06 p.m.: WATER STREET CONDOS: MORE POLLUTION FOUND: Turns out the site is a lot more polluted than the initial assessment found. So they're doing some quick changes of plan, and this high-risk investment will cost just a wee bit more. Story. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-06-5:19 p.m.: GREENFIELD VILLAGE: Spent the entire day in the slightly surreal historical theme park. Greenfield Village, with its lampposts broadcasting old-timey tunes and its Model Ts scooting T-shirt-clad tourists around, bespeaks a creator in love with a highly romanticized version of a simpler time who cast a wide net in acquiring historical properties in order to feed that love.Highlights included the chance to print my own train schedule on an old-timey press, watching silk cocoons being unwound and rolled onto a bobbin, and seeing an 1885 working farm, with girls in period dress in the kitchen stewing tomatoes and getting things ready for canning. Y. and friend were mesmerized by an old machine shop, a dry goods proprietor who chatted in character with us about coming down from Ypsi on the Old Chicago Road, which we did, and by bucolic scenes of period amusements on the village green. Wonderful, incredibly fun day. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-05-2:48 p.m.: DEATH OF THE FREIGHTHOUSE: Raymond kindly linked to a sad picture pertaining to the Freighthouse's demise that is so poignant it deserves its own post, so here it is. Ypsidixit is now scurrying off to the Dreamland in Depot Town to see the "Smeet Frog Conspiracy" puppet show, slightly consoled that the marvelous Dreamland, at least, is still open for business.
And so dies what I regard as the heart of Ypsilanti. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-03-7:21 p.m.: NPR ROUNDUP: Bobby Kennedy popped up on 2 NPR shows today, talking about his new book, Crimes Against Nature, about the Bush administration's deleterious effects on environmental protections. On the Diane Rehm show, he was treated with impeccable sympathy and compassion and got a chance to wax eloquent. It was also interesting to learn that he suffers from the same speech impediment that Rehm does. On Talk of the Nation, he had a bit more harried interview with a slick representative of the Bush admin, who was quite skilled at seeming reasonable while subtly undermining Kennedy's points. It was fascinating to compare the interviews. Afterwards, I felt only respect for Kennedy's drive to publicize the harm to the environment caused by this administration, and his book is on my list.Oh, and there was a long, long feature on "Stateside" on plastic chairs. And the fact that the Mackinac Bridge wobbles if too many people jog across it at one time. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-03-7:19 p.m.: DIARYLAND was down for some hours midday today. Apologies if you were inconvenienced while visiting. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-02-9:16 p.m.: ANN ARBOUR GEM: Some especially pretentious features on AA's October Home Remodelor's Tour include a space "inspired" by a Disney resort. Words fail me, except to whisper, weakly, "how can anyone be so free of taste that they would model their home after...a Disney resort?" Here's a hideous lump of a home. And there's "a �porch of my own�...for mans [sic] best friend, the family�s Bouvier." That's a trendy dog breed, in case you didn't know. Now I realize why my Humane Society pooch looked a tad miffed yesterday. It's because she doesn't have a porch of her own! Hope PETA doesn't find out. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-02-9:57 p.m.: THE FIRST DAY OF FRANCE'S HEADSCARF BAN went pretty smoothly. Only a handful of girls tried to defy the ban; they were seperated for "counseling" but not expelled. "There were a few of us who wanted to do it to show that we were proud of our religion but, because of what is happening in Iraq, we decided not to," [one student] said. "We would have seemed to be on the same side as the people holding the [two French] journalists [hostage in Iraq]."Naturally, this would never fly in the U.S., perhaps the Western Hemisphere's most ardently religious state. But Ypsidixit approves of what is probably Europe's most secular nation ensuring that a secular federal institution remains secular. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-02-6:52 p.m.: EMU FOOTBALL is a bigger deal than I'd thought. While biking by the stadium on the way home, the delicious smell of BBQ filled the air from people grilling in the parking lot across the street. The band's flags flashed in the air behind the stadium and drumbeats pounded. There was a kids' area with a moonwalk and games and at least five giant white tents set up on the stadium's front lawn, each with its own buffet, organized by alumni organizations and business groups. People wandered about and safety-vested guides helped people cross the street from the lot. It was a festive and lively scene. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-02-8:56 a.m.: EMU SALARIES: Thanks to the resourceful Scott, who dug up the highly interesting list [pdf] of EMU faculty and staff salaries, we can ponder why the top 5 people on the list got raises of 19-27% last year. EMU accounting manager Timothy Griffith got a 19% raise to $72,695, director of financial services Daniel Cooper got a 19% raise to $97,623, academic advising director Patricia Williams got a 21% raise to $84,660, associate athletics director Melody Reifel got a 25% raise to $68,470, and employment and recruiting director Susan Patalan got a hefty 27.78% raise to $94,554. Whew.That's a far cry from the measly 2.65/2.35% yearly increase EMU offered faculty in strike talks last Monday. I guess some people are the exception. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-02-8:31 a.m.: CRIME SCENE: Blasting off from home just after 7 on a coffee-powered vehicle, I noticed that at Lynne and Forest, the north end of Lynne was roped off in a giant square of yellow crime scene tape, with 2 cop cars & 3 cops standing on the east side of the street. I tried to suss out the story from the cops. "It doesn't have anything to do with this neighborhood," I was told, twice. Whatever that means. "You'll probably read about it in the paper tonight," said one cop. Well, I hope so, since it IS in my neighborhood and I think I have a right to know what's going on. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-01-6:24 p.m.: BLOG FRIENDS APPRECIATION: Ypsidixit was asked the other day by the Freep photographer how Y. would define blogging, and Y. replied, "an endless conversation with people I like."* I'd just like to say that I've really grown to value the little "family" of regulars who stop by to tell me about their gardens, or an island, or an artwork, or chime in with a comment about a book. I value these conversations and get a lot of enjoyment out of them, and have met some rather amazing people. Blogland is not noted for mushiness in general--Y. just wanted to say that she appreciates and enjoys everyone's contributions.*with one exception. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-09-01-8:30 a.m.: EMU STRIKE: This morning as I biked across the western EMU parking lot around 7:35 a.m., I came across an Action News 7 news van parked just off Oakwood, its antenna extended and a taciturn cameraman plugging things in. Across the driveway from the news van was a big box of picket signs--apparently that was the strike meeting place for the union's 631 members. The Freep reports that this morning they reached an agreement just 30 minutes before the first day of classes were to start.EXCERPT: "The dispute has centered mostly on economic questions, with the union proposing a wage increase of 3.75 percent in the first year and 3.9 percent in the second. The university countered with an offer of 2.65 percent in the first year and 2.35 percent in the second. Like many of the state's publicly funded colleges and universities, Eastern Michigan is struggling with a tight budget." Ypsidixit's best prof ever, U-M undergrad notwithstanding, was EMU linguistics prof T. Daniel Seely. This inspirational, brilliantly gifted professor, who made me want to major in linguistics, deserves every nickel EMU can scrape up to give him--even if University House has to somehow make do with one less bottle of brass polish. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-31-8:59 p.m.: REPUBLICAN CONVENTION: Ypsidixit is listening to Arnold S.'s remarks at the Republican Convention on NPR in the fast-fading hope of being open-minded, but it's so much buncombe. First of all, how surreal is it that an actor is the lead speaker at a political convention? Second of all, he's speaking in ridiculous jingoistic cliches that are prompting delirious "USA! USA!"s from the audience--this is not any sort of substantive discussion. Finally, I'm irked at his exhortation to "not be economic girly-men." Since when is being a girl a weakness? ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-31-8:22 p.m.: ANN ARBOR AREA "ESCORTS" advertising online seem to be inviting a bust, given the current illegality of prostitution. Ypsidixit, who could care less what adults do behind closed doors--it's none of her business--and who thinks that outlawing prostitution is about as effective as outlawing drugs, thinks that if prostitution were legalized at least prostitutes might get better health care, as in Holland. Ethical questions aside, it can't be denied that some of these self-descriptions for services, which seem to run on average for $250 an hour, are cheesy. ("Changeable green eyes" ?--please.) ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-31-5:57 p.m.: POLICE BEAT ROUNDUP: A man exposes himself to innocent co-eds--the seventh time he's done so on the south side of U-M's campus. A Chelsea underwear thief is nabbed. It's hard to imagine what a dispute over a swing set would entail. And things are mighty quiet in Manchester. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-31-5:38 p.m.: HERE'S AN YPSI BLOG I recently discovered that doubtless you already knew about. East Cross Street, which appears to be run by the owner of the Sidetrack (?) judging from the Aug. 29 entry. Some nice historical photos tucked away here and there in its pages. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
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FIND YOUR HOUSE ON THIS GIANT ZOOMABLE LITHOGRAPHED MAP OF YPSI: Here's the 
