y p s i ~ d i x i t
Motto: "You must realize that until you have thrown off your bourgeois shackles and enjoyed a leisurely smoke while letting a Giant African Snail determine your cadence, you have not begun to demonstrate what has been lost to expertization." --L.F.

Who: Laura
Where: Ypsilanti, MI
What: Ypsi, Iraq, windfarm dumping
When: Aug. 7, 1967
Whence: Mt. Clemens, MI
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2004-05-19-8:57 p.m.: INTERROGATIONS AND IRAQI DEATHS: The Denver Post breaks a must-read story about uncovered Pentagon documents that link brutal interrogation techniques and Iraqi deaths at four different detention facilities including Abu Ghraib.

Makes me want to go out and buy fifteen fucking flags to clip onto my car.

Say, anyone listen to the hearings today? I listened to the whole thing. Here's what was conspicuous in its absence:

"IT WAS MY FAULT. I WAS RESPONSIBLE. I'M RESIGNING IN SHAME AND ACCEPT A LENGTHY JAIL SENTENCE AS PUNISHMENT FOR MY CRIMES."

Here's what I heard instead: "Lessons learned...hee-roes...I was not aware...hee-roes...thank you for your service to your country...hee-roes...hee-roes...heeeeeeee-roes."

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2004-05-19-8:07 p.m.: NEAR-HUMMER EXPERIENCE: (a tribute to Steven and Leighton's recent posts about Hummers):

Ypsidixit was quietly and calmly driving her tiny Pontiac Sunfire eastwards into downtown on Michigan Ave. when a hideous beige Hummer loomed in her rearview at a stoplight, eclipsing all sources of natural light.

Ypsidixit did not flip off this beast, being mannerly (sound of hen clucking). Instead, in an effort to get the thing to pass, she went into "old-lady-driver" mode, creeping along at Sunday-after-church pace, maddeningly weaving, and gliding towards a stoplight out of gear at snail speed. No dice--the thing still plagued my rear bumper.

Exasperated, Ypsidixit abruptly wheeled into a parking lot, whirled around, and reentered the street behind the Hummer.

This baffled the two cool dudes inside, both of whom craned around to peer at Ypsidixit, who blew them a kiss.

2 comments--add a comment

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2004-05-19-6:27 p.m.: NICE REPLY FROM "PILLARS OF ART" YHS ART TEACHER ROBIN EVANS: Ms. Evans wrote me a nice thank-you to an email I sent her thanking her for the "Pillars of Art" project and confirms that she is also the person that organized the Seurat-like exhibit of people in Riverside Park not too long ago (and some murals at the Life Sciences building before that). She flattered me by saying she'd be reading my email to her class!

QUOTE: "We have a lot of talented kids in Ypsilanti and I'm proud to

help them show it in any way I can."

Well, they're lucky to have her. Aside from poetry meister Jeff Kaas in I think Community High, I haven't seen any A2 art teacher making such a big and positive effect on the community.

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2004-05-19-8:03 a.m.: ">BOB DYLAN: CICADA WIMP?"Bob Dylan almost ran for his car instead of picking up an honorary degree at Princeton University during the Brood X emergence of 1970 that the Princeton Alumni Bulletin described as "biblical." Mr. Dylan wrote about the experience in "Day of the Locusts," a track on his "New Morning" album of that year:

"And the locusts sang, yeah, it gave me a chill.
Oh the locusts sang such a sweet melody.
Oh the locusts sang their high whining trill,
Yeah, the locusts sang and they were singing for me."--NYT

In other cicada music-related news, a composer in Maryland is composing "Emergence: The Cicada Serenade," which "follows the insect's dark and joyous life. So it will begin with the sound or feeling of emergency. The center of the peace would be liberation and freedom, and then mad spirits."

9 comments--add a comment

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2004-05-19-7:52 a.m.: "I CANNOT PERSUADE MYSELF that a beneficent and omnipotent god would have decidedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars."

--Charles Darwin, in The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin

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2004-05-18-10:19 p.m.: BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION: I recently learned, via a Detroit Free Press editorial, that the Brown vs. Board of Edu. decision may have played a part in the white flight from Detroit. I (call me naive) had never considered that angle. My mom and dad moved from New Haven, MI, to lily-white Lambertville, MI in 1977. I now wonder if their decision to do so was due in part to enforced busing via Brown vs. Board. What I do know: I attended an all-white high school in Bedford, MI., and that in retrospect, I would have liked to have attended a high school more representative of the state's "racial"* mixup. Was "Brown" misguided?

*assuming that "race" is a valid concept...it may be socioculturally, but it isn't, empiracally,...at any rate, how did Brown vs. Board influence your life?

17 comments--add a comment

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2004-05-18-5:20 p.m.: YPSIDIXIT has learned through osmosis that AAIO is back in town & so the recent awful posting-drought is probably over (whew!)

2 comments--add a comment

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2004-05-18-11:49 a.m.: PILLARS O' ART: This morning I was surprised to see a number of colorfully painted pillars standing like an unrolled and jazzed-up Stonehenge in front of the Riverside Arts Center. Turns out they're an art project by art students of Robin Evans, who I think is the same dynamic, inspired art teacher who had her students do those really cool plywood figures that were displayed in Riverside Park a la Seurat's "Sunday Morning on Grand Jatte Island." I find both projects completely delightful, I bet the kids love it, and I think we're lucky to have this teacher around to add such contributions for all to enjoy.

If you also feel like thanking her, you can email her at [email protected]

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2004-05-18-8:03 a.m.: SECULAR HUMANISM MINUTE: WHEN DID PEOPLE GET SOULS? "One would have to accept that some particular man had a soul and his father did not...Who can believe that one generation of those doubtless savage creatures [early hominids] was doomed to become dust, while its progeny, changed in only a few minute anatomical and biochemical details, could possibly deserve the bliss (or the pains) of an eternal life?"

--James Dee, "The Silver Bullet Question that Kills the Immortal Soul," Free Inquiry magazine vol. 24 no. 3

10 comments--add a comment

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2004-05-17-5:58 p.m.: PAPER MILL DIARIES: When Ypsidixit's bus was diverted from Huron River Drive by yellow caution tape strung around the paper mill, she immediately debussed to investigate.
A chat with a Channel 7 news guy in one of those antenna-vans yielded the info that they'd broken a gas main. Ypsidixit isn't so sure. There was an odd acrid burny smell in the air unlike gas. Ypsidixit sneezed.

Another chat with the guy behind the counter at the local gas station, also roped off with yellow caution tape (easily infiltratable with a bike) said they'd broken the main at around 3:30 p.m. Some astoundingly burly guys--I'm talking capital-B burly--in construction hats came in to use the restroom and one remarked that'd they'd be working on it for another 4 hours.

Ypsidixit doesn't have a TV, so if you happen to see the channel 7 7 or 11 p.m. news & revisit the blog sometime, she would be grateful to hear what you learned.

Ypsidixit wonders. There are some vile toxins still in that mill, and barrels marked "PCB" and "toxins" sitting out front not too long ago, and you'd think they'd know where the silly old gas line is, for Pete's sake. UPDATE: The channel 7 news story. UPDATE #2: The Ypsi Courier story.

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2004-05-17-8:51 a.m.: IRA GLASS ON HOWARD STERN: "More honest, more emotionally present, more interesting, more wide-ranging in his opinions that any host on public radio. Also, he's a fantastic interviewer. He's truly funny." (in the Sunday NYT magazine, as reported in Free Press).

2 comments--add a comment

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2004-05-16-10:07 p.m.: BEAUTIFUL DAYS like today are gifts to be savored to the utmost. I spent the whole day outside, building a new flowerbed between my lilac and pine tree...filling it with dirt...planting black-eyed susan, calendula, cosmos, helianthus, and ranunculus. It looked so pretty that I set up a chair nearby and watched the sprinkler sprinkling the bed, and the birds flitting through the big trees in my neighborhood, just glad to be alive.

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2004-05-16-7:18 p.m.: FIELD REPORT: On my way back from the Meijer's Garden Center today I stopped off at ZZ's Produce on Packard, What I had wrongly thought was an outlet for local produce is an amazing international market with all kinds of interesting food, mostly Asian and Arabic. I explored the place, which was packed, with a lot of curiosity, and saw all kinds of foods new to me. I bought 2 kinds of Dal (lentils) and dal masala (lentil spice), some Indian spiced cream of wheat, and spinach and mushrooms. I saw a delicious-looking coconut water drink and a Mexican lime soda, plus all kinds of cheeses. They even have canned rambutan, a delicious Southeast Asian fruit similar to a large grape. Lots of good things; I'm definitely stopping back next week.

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2004-05-15-9:03 p.m.: MICHIGAN RANKS 31ST on a U.S. Census list of states with the highest percentage of bachelor's degrees--23.8 of Michiganders have them, compared to the national average of 25.9. 25.9?! That's pathetic! And MUCH lower than I thought--for some reason I was under the impression that 60% of the population had at least a measly bachelor's degree. And I can't help but notice that Lynndie England's home state ranks dead last, with a microscopic 16.1. (yes, I'm baiting the politically correct fascists who will say I'm elitist--bullshit--fact of the matter is that in Michigan's case, at least, we're a woefully under-educated state). Perhaps the Cool Cities folks should look into making more student grants available. If students were drawn here because we led the nation in generous student loans/grants, a fair number would probably stay post-graduation just due to romantic ties or inertia.

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2004-05-15-7:50 p.m.: SOLDIER POETRY: Dave Enders, who writes the blog "From Ann Arbor to Beirut," ran into a soldier near Najaf who writes poetry. Enders convinced him to do an impromptu reading of one bitter poem.

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2004-05-15-10:50 a.m.: WONDERING what to do with hoarded dryer lint?

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2004-05-14-9:21 p.m.: RUMSFELD AND GENEVA CONVENTIONS CONTRADICTION: (more in "comments").

1 comments--add a comment

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2004-05-14-7:28 p.m.: MEN! Get a haircut, for God's sake!

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2004-05-14-5:20 p.m.: THE HERETOFORE UNKNOWN (to me) colorful figure of Don Cherry emerges from the mist behind the Maple Leaf Curtain and a humble entry morphs into an international cultural exchange...down there in the "10 Greatest Canadians" post.

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2004-05-14-12:35 p.m.:



Take the "Which Cicada Are You?" quiz!

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2004-05-13-5:14 p.m.: CICADAWATCH: In a small update to AAIO's post the other day on the incipient bug flood, I offer you some of the stranger cicada-related news stories that have been coming in off the wire:

Pennsylvania fly-tyer Ed Kraft is raking in the moola from his cicada lures made of feathers.
EXCERPT: "Someone finally caught a trout and opened it up to see what in the world the fish were feeding on. "Cicadas were coming out of its mouth and its stomach was full,'' says Kraft, recalling everyone's amazement.

Some cicadas won't make it because the earth into which they burrowed 17 years ago has been paved over.
EXCERPT:"The eastern U.S. corridor is so developed that cicada habitats have been destroyed," said Cole Gilbert, Cornell associate professor of entomology. "They need gigantic numbers to swamp their predators and survive."

88-year old Indiana woman, who never served time for cicadacide, rediscovers the evidence of her grisly crime.
EXCERPT:�But, I guess we�ll see here soon,� she adds with a [chilling] smile.

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2004-05-13-8:08 a.m.: THE FORMERLY INDEPENDENT YPSI COURIER has been acquired by Southgate-based Heritage Newspapers, which runs a number of small local papers in Washtenaw County and elsewhere in SE MI.

EXCERPT FROM COURIER STORY: "Courier Publisher Dave Melchior is pleased with the announcement. "We think this is a great fit," he said. "It guarantees the long-term future of the newspaper as part of an organization with a history of working with community newspapers."

Perhaps. But the Courier has been humming along for a decade now without any apparent need to amalgamate itself into a larger corp. As for me I have mixed feelings. If it means no more columns written by cats, cancel my subscription.

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2004-05-12-6:22 p.m.: ALERT: For the first time in its history, Canada is becoming nationalistic, due to a 10-part CBC TV series on "The 10 Greatest Canadians," reports the CS Monitor. The public votes for the "winner."

Leading the pack thus far is Marguerite Bourgeouys, a 17th-century do-gooder who founded some schools.

Canada! If you have to go back FOUR CENTURIES to dig up some meddling ne'er-do-well whose ancestors didn't have the sense to stay in France, I'd (respectfully) suggest your (Canadian) goose is cooked.

Meanwhile, some irate Canadian bloggers ["Go Grapes Go" entry] are "starting a meme to subvert the CBC's silly 'Greatest Canadian' contest" ["Make Your Vote Count" entry] by voting over and over for the guy least likely to win, Don Cherry (who?!)

Vote here.

Bob and Doug MacKenzie tribute site.

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2004-05-12-11:36 a.m.: ANN ARBOR filed suit today against Pall Life Sciences for the 18 million square foot (and growing) plume of 1,4 dioxane (a carcinogenic) that's been spreading under Ann Arbor for...oh, the last 20 years or so? Don't worry, though, the AA water supply is just dandy, say experts (although they recently closed one municipal well, just in case).
Excerpt: "The plume's leading edge has now passed Maple Road and Veterans Memorial Park. Significantly higher concentrations have moved under Veterans Memorial Park in the last year, according to the complaint."

Another storyabout west side residents who have to use bottled water. EXCERPT: "Demetrios Politis, who lives on Honey Creek, uses bottled water to drink, cook and wash food, although his well tested clean a couple of years ago.
"My wife refuses to drink it," said Politis, a retiree who has lived in his North Wagner Road home since 1971. "And who would buy a house when there is no water?"

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2004-05-11-10:18 p.m.:



(Many thanks to Brett for this photo!) PAPER MILL DIARIES: This morning while bussing to work I noted seven men, some wearing hard hats, strolling into the paper mill's "aquarium room" area. Uh-oh. Sure enough, while rolling home...the aquarium room was gone. Cinderblock rubble. Soon as I got home, my dog and I piled into my car and drove down to take pictures and mourn. A friend reports he heard workers saying that the demolition should be over by August...lousy birthday present for me...and that frenzied starlings were observed flying madly in and out, tending to a nest with chicks threatened by the demolition. The aquarium room is a rough layer of cement blocks, bits of metal, broken glass, and somewhere in there, a broken Sonny and Cher vinyl record.

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2004-05-11-8:14 p.m.: YPSIDIXIT "EAT YOUR LAWN" SERIES: Daylilies are a valuable food plant and are grown as food in Asia. In March, dig up the thumb-sized water-chestnut-like tubers to slice into stirfries & salads. In April, harvest shoots 6 inches or smaller and cook as you would green beans. In late May/June, harvest unopened flower pods and chop to add to omelettes (it's said you can pickle them too, and steam them & serve with butter as a side dish veggie). The opened flowers are edible. Add the crispy petals to salad for a startling touch. You can also batter-dip and fry the petals. In China, it's common to harvest wilted petals and make daylily soup. NOTE: Some people get a touch of diarrhea from the raw petals. WARNING: Not all lilies are edible. Look for unspotted orange petals (other colors of daylilies are also edible) and make a positive ID with a field guide. WARNING #2: Don't eat the leaves. TESTIMONIAL: Ypsidixit grows an entire hill full of these beauties, perhaps the showiest, prettiest edible plant you can grow. Recipes.

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2004-05-11-8:14 a.m.: SUCCINCT, WELL-WRITTEN policy brief written a few days ago by the former chief of mission in Iraq, Edward Peck.

Excerpt: "May 3, 2004 (Washington, DC) - America�s international standing has reached its nadir because of a foreign policy that is guided by faith in the universal applicability of democracy. Democracy cannot be imposed in Iraq or anywhere else, and the best course of action for America would be to terminate its involvement in reconstruction efforts and �run� from Iraq."

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2004-05-10-9:39 p.m.:


As you can see above, last night's rain raised the Huron River's level by over a foot, which is odd considering that in various containers outside my house, the actual amount of rain seemed to be a bit over an inch all told.

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2004-05-10-9:29 p.m.: ON MAY 10, 1865, Michigan cavalry troops captured Confederacy president Jefferson Davis in Virginia. Colonel Benjamin Pritchard, a U-M grad from the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, nabbed Davis near Irwinsville, Georgia and brought him to Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he was imprisoned for two years. Several years later, the Fourth received part of [part of?] the $100,000 reward [what's that in 2004 dollars?] offered for Davis's capture.

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2004-05-09-3:53 p.m.: [WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO AND CONTENT]: The New Yorker again breaks new ground with a new story by Seymour Hersh detailing a new set of pictures, taken December 2003, from Abu Ghraib.

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2004-05-09-11:10 a.m.: From an India Daily story on Lynndie England:

"In high school, her parents said, she was a good student. She yearned to go to college, wanting to become a �stormchaser�, the kind of meteorologist who does not simply study bad weather, but immerses herself in the middle of it."

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2004-05-07-6:38 p.m.: GOOD HEAVENS. A Google for "lynddie england" [a reader notes that most sources spell it as "lynndie england"] turns up yours truly as the (gulp) #1 hit! Yikes! No wonder my traffic is way up. And here I thought it was the writing quality. Yah. (Sure enough, a peek in the statistics section shows a huge number of google searches).

NEWCOMERS! Welcome to my blog. I hope you find it useful. I value your comments. And if you've been wondering lately what the situation is with abandoned paper mills in wee Ypsilanti, Michigan, you've come to the right place. Enjoy.

SATURDAY UPDATE: Rumsfeld's "worse to come" comment: links to news stories giving more detail on the photos he referred to are in "comments."

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2004-05-07-11:41 a.m.: LYNDDIE ENGLAND UPDATE: Unlike some of her colleagues who are now facing courts-martial, Ms. England was transferred back to Fort Bragg in North Carolina because...she's pregnant.

She's gonna be a great mommy.

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2004-05-06-10:05 p.m.: GARDENING: Planted a dozen tomato plants this evening. Yes, it's a week before our area's last frost date of May 15, but it was in the sun-drenched strip garden next to my garage, so they'll be fine. Early Girls next to Big Boys...hope they strike up a romance. Tomato-plantin'-tip: for strong plants, bury 80% of the tomato seedling, including the bottom 2 or so sets of leaves, leaving only the top sprig above ground. Why?: this helps foster deeply-rooted, stronger plants. I also transplanted some volunteer sprigs of helianthus to my buddhist water garden--helianthus has proved to be a very prolific spreader and is sprouting up everywhere. It's a fast-growing carnationlike orange flower whose seeds I've observed finches feeding on, so I'm growing more of it in my ongoing longrange project to transform my backyard into a viable habitat. I recently saw a toad and a wild rabbit by my pond which gave me a lot of joy and convinced me I'm on the right track in efforts to make my yard wildlife-friendly.

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2004-05-06-8:42 p.m.: [WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS] LYNDDIE ENGLAND is the name of the 21-year-old West Virginian woman depicted in the now-notorious Iraq prison photo showing her pointing to Iraqi prisoners and giving the thumbs-up.

She appears in other prison photos, one with her new fiance.

And to me she looks a lot like the woman holding a leash around the neck of an Iraqi prisoner. I note the similar body build, haircut, and black watch on left wrist.

Excerpt from the "other prison photos" link (the Democratic Underground Forum):

"Everyone had been proud of Lynndie England. A Wal-Mart in nearby LaVale displays her photo on its Wall of Honor. The Mineral County courthouse in Keyser, W.Va., posts her photograph and those of other local soldiers under a banner that says: "We're hometown proud."

Wonder if they've taken it down from the Wall of Honor.

I called LaVale directory assistance at (304) 555-1212 and got the number for two Wal-Marts in apparently nearby towns, one in Barbersville (304-733-4792, no answer) and one in Huntington: (304) 733-4700. The lady I spoke to at the Huntington store--politely, just inquiring about the England photo--said they do have a Wall of Honor but said she had "no idea what I was talking about" concerning a photo of Lynddie England. She transferred me to the front office, where I languished on hold for 10 minutes before hanging up. I'll call again and post an update here within this post when I get an answer.

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2004-05-06-5:39 p.m.: FIELD REPORT: The big white warehouse at Norris and Forest, across from Michigan Ladder, is probably not the "old molasses factory." I investigated it today: there's a big sign on the fence that says "Bay Logistics." After cruising back and forth I got off my bike and very innocuously and nonthreateningly walked in through an open gate next to a guard shack. The guard sprang out and we chatted a bit about whether this used to be an old molasses factory. He said no--it's a place where GM tests engines. Oh. (Why would you need a guard for a place where GM tests engines?) Even as I chatted away, mindful that I was projecting an image of a dotty dorky-bike-helmeted oddball, I could tell this guy never went off his guard, not even when he told me he lived in a onetime historical hardware store. I could tell by the wary look in his eye that he was poised to pounce if I proved to be a diversion while my machine-gun-wielding henchmen poured in the back way, intent on infiltrating the plant and stealing vital industrial secrets about ways to test GM engines. It creeped me out after a while, so I thanked him and left, narrowly avoiding running over a scampering woodchuck.

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2004-05-06-11:30 a.m.: IN THE INFORMATIVE brownfields article that commentor Brett pointed out in a comment, I note the passage:

"At another site off Forest Street (north of Depot Town), the city had also been exploring options for leveling an old molasses plant and readying the site for new development."

Old molasses plant? This must be that white warehouse building with a giant fenced yard, opposite the Michigan Ladder Company?
Another question: what is the former industry of that sawtooth-roofed industrial building in the V between Huron River Drive and Lowell just northeast of EMU? Grateful for any info.

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2004-05-06-8:15 a.m.: YPSI TODDLER joins the revolution early.

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2004-05-05-9:47 p.m.: WHY BOTHER WITH A STUPID OLD PAPER MILL? Why bother posting on what some Ypsidixit commentors called an "eyesore"? Why bother getting off the bus at the paper mill instead of riding in closer to my house? Why bother fretting about an anonymous industrial building?

I bother because I see local historical societies concerned with precious gingerbread Victorian houses and garden tours who are seemingly unconcerned with relatively ancient landmarks of a uniquely industrial history that is being plowed under.

I bother because the paper mill affected thousands of former Ypsilantians' lives, unlike the home-tour gems that affected relatively few Ypsilantians' lives.

I bother because I'm a printing press mechanic's daughter who viscerally resists the eradication of blue-collar history in favor of prettified "development."

I bother because without some links to the past, we forget who came before.

[/melodrama]

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2004-05-05-8:03 p.m.: PAPER MILL DIARIES: an urban explorer's report:

"So, on one absolutely wonderful day in mid-May, my friend Kate Jones and I went out [to the mill] with Margie and we spelunked that place to our hearts content.

"We explored that place for four hours that day without anyone noticing our presence.

"When we first went there, we found a few windows that had been kicked in - and I kicked one in myself, just to try to be bad-ass. We first got inside by throwing a brick through a screen window and pulling the screen apart, putting a ladder up against the window and crawling through. We began wandering around the building - it was enormous. It was creepy in parts - we felt like we were living in an X-Files episode. There were areas that were intensely beautiful - one section of the basement was complete art-beauty from head to toe, everything was covered with this weird powder that had crystallized over all the machinery and tiles. There were enormous vats we could crawl through and stand upright in.

"We found two floors of these gigantic empty rooms with the most intensely perfect acoustics I'd ever experienced. I could sing just above a whisper and hear myself reverberate all over the place. I was ecstatic. It felt perfect. I really wanted to host an abandoned series gathering at this place.

"Right before we left, Kate and I took a few of the random fire extinguishers that were hanging on the walls off and decided to see what happens when you spray that stuff. I think I'd been curious about fire extinguishers my entire life. A beautiful, heavy white puffy cloud was emitted from the hose, as we sprayed it all over the place in an enormous empty room - it moved the way incense moves; cascading and tumbling like water. Within a few minutes we were being choked to such an intense degree that we had to seal off that room and evacuate. We ran away coughing.

"We walked into a warehouse room and looked at everything - there were enormous stacks of paper everywhere, fans that weren't being used (i took one), machinery and all sorts of bicycles and crap everywhere. Kate and I had a hard time restraining ourselves from going ape-shit looting the place. I left with a fan. Kate left with some electrical drills (she's into carpentry and design.) When we left the warehouse that day, we felt elated and full of life - so ecstatic from running free for hours, discovering everything, opening drawers, looking at blueprints of the building that were made in the 70s, finding pornography from the 80s in drawers that hadn't moved in 20 years. We loved every minute of being in that place - we spent enough time in there that we knew it like the back of our hands."

Dear Wahkeena:

I envy your gutsiness and am glad that you didn't suffer the respiratory problems that an acquaintance of mine who also explored the mill suffered...there's some nasty stuff in there, I hear. I visited your mill today. There are four claw-machines parked on the north side, ready to rip it down. If you ever visit in the future you'll recognize the chimney, sticking up from great swaths of vinyl siding in a cheapo wood-frame student-housing complex slapped together by out-of-state developers. The rest will be gone. I visit it these days to soak up as much as I can in my eyeballs and camera, to remember it, a 137-year-old symbol of Ypsilanti's thriving industrial past and the nexus of thousands of former Ypsilantians' lives.

Yours truly,

Laura B (2004)

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2004-05-05-6:06 p.m.: BUS DRIVER A TICKING TIME BOMB: While rolling home on a certain route that left AA at a certain time (details omitted to protect the privacy of this driver) I heard the telltale "Pwsshhhh" that told me (studiously reading the Free Press), that the guy who'd brought food on the bus had just spilled his drink. Well, the driver went ballistic and started yelling sternly at him as if the (20-some year old) were an errant kid. Food Guy initially said OK but under continued beration told the driver, at full volume from the very back of the bus, that he didn't appreciate being talked down to. They went back and forth for a bit & then it seemed to die down. Then Food Guy got on his cell and started telling someone about the so-and-so driver and the driver started yelling again about how there were kids on the bus & he wouldn't tolerate bad language, &c. It just got worse from there, to the point where I actually found myself wondering if Food Guy were packing. I observed another passenger, Pierced Guy Who Gets Off at the Chinese Restaurant, get off a stop early and I thought I'd do the same. "You gettin' your bike?" the driver barked at me as we rolled to a stop. Well, duh, I'm the only one on the bus wearing a bike helmet. I sure felt like telling him to cool it. But you can't win in some situations, so I just meekly said, "Yes, sir (you jerk)." Phew. Although it had nothing to do with me, it was somehow embarrassing and nerve-wracking to be sitting in the middle of it all. At any rate. Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of my life.

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2004-05-05-9 a.m.: PAPER MILL DIARIES: A kind reader sends his and his wife's impressions and gave me permission to highlight it as a post since it's so well-written:

*Error Message*

"The evening before this pile of equipment [in front of the mill] was removed to parts unknown, my wife and I happened to be walking by and heard what we thought was a sound coming from inside the mill. We went back to the spot we heard it most strongly, and realized it was a high-pitched continuous "Beeeeeeeeeeeep" coming from somewhere in the middle of the pile of discarded computer equipment. Apparently something in there still had a living battery and was registering some sort of error message. This pathetic little piece of electronics had made a very accurate observation of the current state of affairs. Unfortunately, we were the only ones that heard it and didn't quite know how to respond. Hopefully the land fill will give the little fellow a respectful burial, as it was more astute in its perception than any of the civic bodies in Ypsilanti." --Brett

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2004-05-04-7:35 p.m.: I GOT A NICE REPLY from Ypsi DDA kingpin Jennifer Goulet regarding the email I sent her in support of Jennifer Albaum and friends' work on the Cool Cities Grant (see "Steve Cherry" post, below). Goulet said she's adding my letter [!} to the proposal going out. Kudos to motivated Ypsi folks for whipping up a grant proposal (and to Steven Cherry for publicizing the letter-writing cause)...Ann Arbor wimped out & said there wasn't time. Bah on their apathy! (There's still time for Ypsilantians to send her an email: [email protected]). Deadline: tomorrow!

My letter:

Dear Ms. Goulet:

As an Ypsilanti resident, I am writing in support of the Cool Cities grant proposal created [later learned it wasn't "created" per se by Albaum but anyways] by Jennifer Albaum and her colleagues.

Her group has devised an inventive and viable plan for the DTE building near the Riverside Arts Center that would help kick-start the ongoing struggling Michigan Avenue renaissance. I would make a point of patronizing the buinesses housed at the DTE site. I also welcome the creation of artists' studio space, which I see as the essence of the Cool Cities ethos. In an impassioned discussion of this issue on a local blog, Steven Cherry's "Seat of the Revolution," (http://seat.defcode.com), I commented that I wondered if the grant would have a better chance if local residents agreed to match the funds in part. I said I'd be willing to contribute a (measly) $100. My financial resources are weak, but my loyalty to, personal interest in, and commitment to Ypsilanti is strong.

Please help support this well-thought-out grant proposal that will benefit Ypsilanti.

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2004-05-03-10:51 p.m.: PAPER MILL DIARIES: The piles of outmoded phones, defunct fire extinguishers, and barrels labeled "PCB," "Toxins," and "ink" have been whisked away from the paper mill's east side. I can only presume that the demolition in earnest is imminent.

"Naomi E. Robinett was born on 17 Oct 1904 in Clare Co., MI. She died on 25 Jul 1984 in Ypsilanti, MI. In 1930 she was working in a paper mill. She was buried in Highland Cemetery, Ypsilanti,"

Dear Ms. Robinett:

I visited your paper mill today, assuming you worked at the Peninsular Paper Mill and not one of the other area mills. They're tearing it down. Recently, piles of loose goods were removed from the interior--phones, old ink, old rolls of paper. These disappeared as of today, so I'm guessing that more serious demolition of the building will soon commence. I am sorry to see this landmark vanish, where you worked during the Depression. You died before I graduated from high school, but I wanted to let you know I note and mourn the passing of your (likely) onetime employer, the Peninsular Paper Mill.

--Laura B (2004)

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2004-05-03-6:11 p.m.: STEVEN CHERRY posts a very useful post about the chance for Ypsi to get a Cool Cities grant for $100,000. He's asking people to just write a short, simple email or letter in support of the grant. Takes 5 minutes. Please go and read the post (addresses to send your letter/email are there). Great post Steven--thanks!

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2004-05-02-5:29 p.m.: THE NYT somewhat skeptically interviews Morgan Spurlock, creator of the movie "Supersize Me," which documents Spurlock's decision to limit himself to only McDonald's food for a month and the disasterous results.

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2004-05-02-2:40 p.m.: "DON'T BURY WHAT ISN'T DEAD": "Benny B" in the Port Huron-based Blue Root arts and culture magazine, similar to the Ann Arbor Paper, says vinyl beats CDs.

"[of the grooves in a vinyl record]: Small jagged edges jostle the needle back and forth, up and down, to truly recreate the recorded music. There is no loss of the sound wave, so what you are hearing is what the musician truly meant for their music to sound like. With digital audio, though, most of it is 16-bit, which means the sound value to be represented must be one of 65,536 choices. While that sees to be a lot of choices, it is still not the full aural range...

"Listening to two of the same recording, one on CD and the other on vinyl, shows just how much difference there really is. The compact disc sounds great. It's crystal clear and seems to be a faithful reproduction of the recording. Then you listen to the vinyl version of the same recording. It doesn't sound great, it sounds excellent. The sound is full of warmth and tone, like the difference between seeing a picture of a Hawaiian beach and actually being there and running in the water.

"Vinyl also has a longer life than compact discs. Vinyl lasts over 50 years, but compact discs are expected to deteriorate in 15 to 20 years. There have been cases where an album originally released on vinyl was re-released on compact disc with tracks that were shortened or omitted. One example is "Blonde on Blonde" by Bob Dylan. The title track [!] was shortened for the compact disc re-release due to time constrictions of the CD."

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