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EXCERPT: "Ann Arbor Superintendent George Fornero at first couldn't believe the figure. "I am really surprised at that number," he said. "Obviously if we had 99 students go to Ypsilanti, it is a definite concern." Get used to it, kiddo. Story. *(I'm confused. I thought MI did *not* have a voucher system). ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-30-5:51 a.m.: IT'S JUST SHY (F SIX on a Monday morning. In a minute I'll cook some oatmeal and take a shower and prepare to enter the world. For the moment I'm enjoying the cool dark quiet, listening to the crickets, sitting in the dimness, drinking a coffee, reflecting that in a few weeks the windows won't be open all night and the furnace guy will come round for a checkup as we head into the coldness. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-29-3:32 p.m.: YPSIDIXIT TIPTOES back into the booby-trapped rose garden that is the arena of romance. After over a year and a half of crabby, disillusioned hermitism, the normally shy and reserved Y. brashly asked someone out, and, miraculously, he accepted. Next Saturday. Local watering hole. History will be made. Pray for me please. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-27-9:19 p.m.: PHOTOS "TOO HARD TO LOOK AT": Photographer Eugene Richards "takes pictures from next door or down the street--photos we don't necessarily want to see but, if given a chance, we can't take our eyes off them." So says Dick Gordon, who's interviewing Richards tonight on his always-provocative and interesting NPR show "The Connection." You can see photos from Richards's new book "The Fat Baby" by going here and scrolling down to the orange "Multimedia" box. Pictured: "Evolution." ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-27-8:38 p.m.: DECOR QUANDARY: Here's the problem. The Detroit Free Press is coming to my humble mini-home on Monday to do a photo shoot, though I've been asked not to say why just yet. PROBLEM: Ypsidixit, her mind on larger questions, takes a laissez-faire approach to housecleaning. It's not *dirty*, it's just...well, things could be tidied up a bit. I need quick, easy cleaning and decorating tips to transform this home full of (nice but) salvaged furniture and newspapers and magazines and odd pottery and weird artifacts and old maps and--a collection of dice? how and why did I accumulate that?--and God knows what into a sparkling showcase of respectability. As a co-worker who knows me said, darkly, "You have two days and two nights." Indeed. And frenetic will they be. All desperately-needed tips welcome. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-27-8:26 p.m.: AN YPSILANTI TAIL: Lovely. Ypsidixit was just poring through a true-crime webpage about the Michigan Murders that Ypsidweller kindly brought to her attention, down there in the James Mann book post. She went to the kitchen to get a drink and saw her dog just outside the back door...chewing...on...oh dear. Clover caught a squirrel, apparently (cough) some time ago. Tail chewed off. Signs of...oh my, never mind. Holding her breath, Ypsidixit performed the unenviable task of scooping the beyond-ripe corpse into a garbage bag and tossing it, looking not at the squirrel but a little off to the side. Ypsidixit went back inside, washed her hands very very well, switched to a different webpage, and turned the light up a bit. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-27-1:05 p.m.: TALK ABOUT AN ABOMINATION. Yes...I regret to announce...the Hummer Bike. The Marines and Army are tooling around on 'em in Afghanistan and Iraq and you can even take one on a parachute jump. (Sigh). Story.
____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-27-7:46 a.m.: SPRAWL ALERT: A 20-mile stretch of US-23 southwest of Ypsi is poised to explode. Chrysler and Mitsubishi are building plants in Dundee (a/k/a Cabelaville) and the entire stretch of quiet rural acreage between Ypsi and Dundee is being clawed up by housing developers. Story.
____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-27-7:32 a.m.:  BIKE ACTIVIST GROUP CRITICAL MASS ANN ARBOR mounts its usual last-Friday downtown bike ride to peacefully demonstrate for urban bike commuting today, blasting off from State Street and North University at 5:30 p.m. The ride cruises around downtown AA and takes around half an hour. Ypsidixit is thinking about going. Organizers say: "Let's put on a dandy show by demonstrating both proper and festive riding around town! This is the "first impression" ride of the year, and we just can't have thousands of innocent freshman believe that the sidewalk is the rightful place for cyclists! This is our moment to set a fun example!" --the Ypsi food co-op (mouse terrorism?!) ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-25-7:28 p.m.: TOMORROW'S DIANE REHM show at 10 a.m. on WUOM (91.7 FM) will be about what many dream about, yours truly included, but few do--simplify life and move to the country. "Tomorrow: One couple who left the 21st century behind." Oh yeah. Ypsidixit, who would love to leave the 21st century behind, will be tightly glued to her work radio at 9:55 a.m.[she blogged, missing the irony]. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-25-6:48 p.m.: OVER AT JOURNALISM'S JOURNAL they're engaged in a debate about whether to show photos about a recent beheading (the post entitled "Another One"). It reminded me of an NPR story in which one journalist opined that he didn't do election exit polls because he felt it would interfere with the opinions of those who hadn't voted yet. Clearly, some journalists get big heads. We aren't counter-terrorism experts and we aren't sociologists. The news should be reported straight. Not sugar-coated, second-guessed, or diluted. I hate to see people on the front line of information distribution actually taking any other consideration into account. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-25-5:42 p.m.: LEIGHTON flatters Y. by linking, but I deleted the post he's referring to, so here it is again:U-M FAILS TO MAKE MOTHER JONES'S TOP TEN LIST OF ACTIVIST CAMPUSES: UCLA built a replica of the Israeli wall and forced students to pass through checkpoints. Suffolk U. mounted a mass protest in defense of gay marriage. Spelman challenged rap star Nelly, scheduled to visit campus, to justify sexism in his rap videos--Nelly canceled and the students held a teach-in instead that drew 500 students. Ypsidixit speculates that the reason that the AA couch ban uprising failed to make the cut is the lack of a pin-on ribbon--like pink ones for breast cancer research, white for anti-domestic violence, &c. Boldly worn on the collective chest of couch ban protestors, this unifying symbol would help spotlight the cause--every movement needs its gratuitous ribbon. Perhaps a faded tacky plaid one with pizza sauce and less mentionable stains. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-25-6:22 p.m.: A KIND READER posts some useful info, but since it's buried down in a "comments" section I'm reposting it: "We sell ALL 4 of James Mann's books in our store. eKlectic, 105 W. Michigan Ave." Y. is wondering if this new-to-her store is near the Kroger's down there, as she has only 2 of Mann's books so far. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-25-12:46 a.m.: THE OLD PSYCH HOSPITAL: Two entities are bidding on it: Toyota and a Bloomfield Hills developer who wants to make a mixed-use plex. Story of the showdown. Who would be the better tenant? ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-24-7:54 p.m.: WHAT ARE THE SECRET TRICKS OF YOUR TRADE?: "For every occupation, there is a catalog of secrets only its employees are aware of�such as how waiters with heavy platters know to look straight ahead, and never down. Armed with a bag of reader mail, Matthew Baldwin unfurls a whole lot more true insider knowledge."What are the tricks of your trade? Ypsidixit's case: WRITER OF A CALENDAR OF EVENTS: After getting the facts about an event, take an interest and get a bit conversational/human. Express your (genuine--don't fake it) surprise about the number of breeds of bunnies at a show or your personal impression that the event is very well organized. Ask the organizer what their favorite aspect of the event is. At this point, event organizers will invariably loosen up and let fly with some juicy, colorful quote which will greatly enliven the eventual blurb you write. and ART REVIEWER: Ignore silly artists' statements, hifalutin' PR, fancy-pants art lingo, pushy gallery owners who think their local dabbler is God's gift to the art scene, fawning curators, and the aura of celebrity around big-name exhibits. Slip into the gallery without announcing yourself, look at the art with a down-to-earth attitude, and figure out why the average person should take the trouble to see this exhibit. About 80% of the art in local Ann Arbor galleries is ingenious yet soulless artifice--avoid that too. Look for things that speak to you and speak back with your gut impression, unbaggaged by anything anyone told you to think about it. Ypsidixit is now dying to learn the secret tricks of the trades of the friends who stop by this blog. (idea from metafilter) ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-24-6:29 p.m.: U-M BEGINS USING CAMERA YOU CAN SWALLOW: It's not some Homeland Security doodad, but a new alternative to endoscopy and colonoscopy. In traditional endo/colonoscopies, a tube is threaded down through your mouth or up through your rectum to examine the guts. Drawbacks of both these procedures is that the tube can only reach so far. The new pill-sized camera takes 2 pictures every second on its 6 to 8-hour cruise through the 25 feet of real estate between your teeth and tuchus. "Patients do not need to return the disposable capsule," notes the article. I should hope not. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-24-8:00 a.m.: MEN! FEEL A LITTLE...inadequate? Not to worry. Now there's Hummer Fragrance for Men. Packaged in an attractive Hummer-shaped bottle, it's the perfect way to tell the world that you're not only an overcompensating, tasteless lemming, you're also a slack-jawed slave to advertising. Buy it today--only $52! Story. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-23-7:01 p.m.: TASTE OF SUMMER: When I got home I peeked among the leaves and spied a deep red beauty hanging there like a heart. I picked it and smelled that ripe watery smell. It was almost too ripe and completely unfit for transport anywhere but to my kitchen. Sliced into six thick wet slices deep red right to the center, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and garnished with some Spanish olives, the juicy, meaty, fresh succulence is summer sun and rain slowly distilled over one month into a tomato. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-23-8:42 a.m.: AIR AMERICA will broadcast from AA beginning today, at 1290 AM, WLBY. "The weekday lineup: 6-9 a.m., "Morning Sedition" with Mark Riley and Mark Maron; 9-10 a.m., "Unfiltered" with Lizz Winstead and Chuck D; noon-3 p.m., "Al Franken Show;" 3-7 p.m., "Randi Rhodes Show;" 7-8 p.m., "So What Else is News?" with Marty Kaplan; 8-11 p.m., "The Majority Report" with Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder." Story.Ypsidixit is out of radio range but would like to know if other people can pull in the signal. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-22-10:17 p.m.: BOOKS READ: "Our Heritage: Down by the Depot in Ypsilanti" by Tom Dodd and James Mann.This engrossing compendium of Depot Town-area history offers fascinating stories about Depot Town buildings' histories interspersed with the irreverent yet historically accurate ramblings of the onetime Depot Town Rag newspaper, a chatty super-local newspaper circulated in the 1980s and 1990s in Depot Town. I read with interest of the colorful history of the Thompson Building, from a Civil War barracks--Michigan's only surviving CW-era barracks--to wagon shop to bicycle seller to neglected ruin. Stories about the 4 bridges that have occupied the Cross Street Bridge space enthralled me, as did the lurid tales from Michigan's lumberin' past, when lumberjacks would take their pay to the then-rough-hewn entertainments of Depot Town. Notes on the railroad's long history with Ypsi were a bonus. Ypsidixit highly recommends this entertaining, well-written, and interesting book. You can order a copy for a measly $18 by sending a check to: Depot Town Association/P.O. Box 970235/Ypsilanti, MI 48197. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-22-3:56 p.m.: HERITAGE FEST HIGHLIGHT: Meeting the gracious and funny local history writer James Mann, who kindly inscribed the book of his I bought with the charming "To Laura: These are the Good Old Days" and his signature. I had suspected he was a gentleman and indeed he is--I enjoyed chatting with him and am taking his book out on the patio in a minute.Other highlights: petting a goat, watching people dancing in front of a reggae band, perusin' coonskins, hearing Lisa Hunter in person for the first time, seeing the high school kids' robots, watching the fire-brewed beer guys at work. For a "snack" I had a huge tub of "butterfly chips," or fried potatoes, doused in cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, and chives, which fulfilled my caloric if not nutritional requirements for the remainder of August. A good time was had by all. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-22-8:08 a.m.: PHOTOGRAPHER TINA BARNEY'S series of beautiful photographs of European aristocrats uncover a fundamental difference between the European and American psyches: "[The images] all have an American equivalent. The subjects therefore possess a superficial familiarity. But in every photograph the high arts are mingled with the ordinariness of everyday life in a manner that is intrinsically European. The Italian women eat cake in front of a classical statue. The German granddaughter [at left] leans her arm against a display case of 18th century figurines. The Spaniard sits in a centuries-old room while a sculptor puts the finishing touches on his bust. This is a world of ancient refinement, of the ties born through heritage and lineage. In this world, America is simply irrelevant. It is by chance, not design, if their interests meet." To see the photos, choose the "multimedia slide show" link on the right of the NYTimes article. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-20-10:18 p.m.: REFRESH MY MEMORY, please: why are Americans and Iraqis still dying in Iraq? Didn't we "hand over" control over a month ago? Wasn't the "mission accomplished" some months before that? Do we have a clear mission? Or, in the stories coming out of Najaf, are we seeing what was called in Vietnam "mission creep"?Some argue against an immediate pullout because they predict a "bloodbath." I think such people view Iraqis as an inferior people--cradle-of-civilization notwithstanding--incapable of managing their own affairs. This is an imperialist and racist viewpoint. This same mindset produced the egregious comment, during the "hand-off" earlier this summer, about "taking a while to remove the training wheels" for democracy in Iraq. I just about passed out with embarrassment when I read that comment. Meanwhile we're penning protesters in designated "protest zones" and arresting people for anti-Bush signs. We're freerer than some nations, but we are not the beacon of democracy as presented by the hawks. It's possible that somewhere in Iraq tonight, some young soldier, amid a tent-full of snoring buddies, is staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep, pondering these same questions. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-20-9:29 p.m.: GOOGLE JOKE: Type "bush's foreign friends" into Google and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky."(tip from Dutch Google engineer via metafilter). ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-20-7:42 p.m.:
A FASCINATING STORY ON NPR about an indigenous Brazilian people who do not count beyond two, and the intriguingly different thoughtworld that semantic difference implies, led me to google up this fascinating page about Brazil's indigenous people. Brazil's 1988 Constitution recognized that aboriginal land and all the resources thereof is the permanent possession of indigenous peoples living there--they haven't been shoved off the land and herded into reservations.Of the 218 different groups of aborigines, 61 (the largest group, or 28%) contain less than 200 people. 2 contain more than 30,000 (the largest population category). Each group has different politics, languages, social structures, and ways of relating to the environment and the outside world (some choose to stay isolated). ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-19-9:08 p.m.: A LOCAL RESIDENT THOUGHT HE'D MAKE A PAPER PUNCH by sawing apart a bullet. Bad idea [scroll down to "emergency room".] In other gun news, some Milan kids thought it'd be funny to point a fake gun at an off-duty police officer. Ha. Near Chelsea, a young lady thought she could deceive an officer of the law. Nope. An 87-year-old driver nearly offs a 79-year-old Saline resident on his way home from the circus (the circus?) Something's fishy just off Packard. And have you ever wanted to camp with a cop? Now's your chance! ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-19-7:23 p.m.: A CALL TO ARMS: Having slowly figured out that "Best [whatever] of Ann Arbor" contests sell ads, the AA News is ripping off Current with a nearly identical best-of-AA contest called "Reader's Choice." True to the technological sophistication of the News--mlive is a hideous site--it's not available online, but ballots will be printed in the paper till Sept. 9 (dunno if they mean every day or every Wednesday--yesterday's paper had one, and they're also available at the AA News office at 304 E. Huron anytime.)Here's my plan: Since the contest is open to anyone in the AA News service area (includes Ypsi), I call on you to obtain a ballot and fill out every last stinkin' blank with Ypsilanti answers. Just to throw a wrench into the machine. Some of the questions: "best place to get caught in a traffic jam" (what?) "best untried means of raising more tax revenue" (entry fee for the eventual AA 'bubble-dome') "best-kept secret in town," "best townie hangout," "best place to buy a funky gift" (oh, please), "best festival outside Ann Arbor," and--here's one to have fun with--"best Ann Arbor irony." ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-18-7:26 p.m.: A KIND READER sends a question that several blog-readers in particular are much more expert on than I. So I'm posting it here in the hope of helpful replies from other kind readers (and a warm welcome for a new Ypsi resident!)"I am moving to Ypsi within the next 2 weeks (Normal Park area). How is it? Normal Park seems nice, it looked like the downtown had some potential... is it on the rise?" --R. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-18-12:26 p.m.: REMEMBER THE FIRST AMENDMENT? I do, but it's fast turning to nostalgia. Jim Hightower writes about the recent erosion of the right to free assembly and speech, citing cases of people arrested for holding protest signs. At one St. Louis Bush visit protest last year, 150 protestors were moved to a zone where they couldn't be seen by the royal motorcade, and the media weren't allowed to talk to them. Long article but worthwhile, especially if you were thinking about getting a perm. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-17-10:07 p.m.: "A BROAD MARGIN OF LEISURE is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.*""A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone." --Henry David Thoreau MODERN-DAY APPLICATION: For me, these quotes remind me of the 75-minute bike trip to and from work every day. The long, unhurried trip, full of redbud, squirrels, cardinals and sparrows on the secret path and sumac, cosmos, goldfinches, bunnies, and chipmunks in Gallup, lets me see several million leaves on the way to work and think about absolutely nothing. There is plenty of time to stop in the Gallup "loop," drink water, and, this morning, chat with a lady photographing a huge floating swan preening its translucent white feathers. I can let alone the car, the traffic, the parking hassle and cost, and the regimented nature of driving to work sealed in a metal bubble. I feel lucky to instead roll through the cool morning breeze, note a few more red leaves in Gallup than yesterday, enjoy the feeling of sleepy muscles stretching out, and say "good morning" to the several Gallup jogging "regulars" who turn up most days and seem to enjoy the river-twinkly morning as much as I do. *Cars weren't around when Thoreau (born July 12, 1817) made this quote, so I'm guessing he means streetcars? ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-17-9:24 p.m.: BOOKS READ: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto's "Ideas That Changed the World."This thought-provoking whirlwind tour of human history's breakthrough ideas offers something akin to a tabletop crammed with tapas: lots of little nibbles, each one so well made you find it hard to stop eating. Each big idea, such as animal totemism, god as a woman, the pervasive positive view of capitalism, or atheism, gets its own two-page spread with splashy, engrossing graphics that combine up-to-date images with unusual scenes from around the globe and interesting vintage photos. The book's frank treatment of such taboo topics as cannibalism make it an inclusive survey, and while the limited 2-page format forces a brief treatment for each idea, the essays are thoughtfully written, and include much interesting multicultural detail and suggestions for further reading. A feast for the hungry intellectual snacker, this "coffee table book for the mind" offers visual pleasure and lots of information to weigh and savor: highly recommended. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-17-3:47 p.m.: A BONE-BREAKING SHOWDOWN between a virtuous biker and an evil cell phone blabber, a tracking dog, and the theft of just the rear tires from a bunch of cars on a lot--just three of the gripping stories in this week's Police Beat. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-16-10:23 p.m.: IN THE "IF THAT'S YOUR ONLY PROBLEM..." DEPT.: Google needs to hire Jane Irwin. This image first seared my precaffeinated brain at 8:50 this morning, and in the dozens of Google searches that followed throughout the day, it only grew more vexing. I get it--Neptune wins a gold medal for swimming, which is clever and funny since he's the god of the sea. I guess it's part of a subsequent series that will include Diana winning a gold medal for archery, Prometheus winning a gold medal for theft, and Io winning a gold medal for dairy production. Whatever. OBJECTIONS: Why do Neptune's legs dwindle away into a chrysalis-pod? What are those whirly lines around the toga? How could anyone swim in such a shallow pool?--you'd break your neck, divine or not, diving in there. Why does his right arm have an extra joint between the shoulder and elbow? And is it my imagination or is the God of the Sea...really glad to see me?
____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-16-9:27 p.m.:  OUR NEW U.S. POET LAUREATE, Nebraska insurance exec Ted Kooser, seems to be the kind of down-to-earth poet Billy Collins was, with plain-spoken blank verse poems about ordinary things. Nice work, based on the poems he's reading on NPR's "The Connection." The eight-month position of poet laureate comes with $35,000 a year and the poet's very own office at the Library of Congress.Michigan is, apparently, one of only 13 states without a state-level poet laureate. Legislation went before Engler at one point but he quashed it. It seems ridiculous that such a colorful and varied state should lack a poet laureate. We need a guy like Collins or Kooser in there, one with accessible poems that anyone could enjoy. Kooser may be earning a tiny fraction of what any Enron exec raked in, but he read a one-line poem (his friend's) on the radio tonight that I'll remember--just a tiny thing, but a tiny lasting thing. Something like this: Oh, hidden heart, weighed down by so many wings! Also, I don't vote for benches--to sit and look at Mich. Ave. traffic while breathing in exhaust? What I would like to see is Mich. Ave. trees and a couple of cafes with sidewalk tables--the kind that add so much ambiance to Depot Town. Story. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-15-10:36 p.m.: "CONDI" MENTS: CITIZENS! "You don't support Democrats! Why should your ketchup?" At a recent Repub fundraiser, they covered up all the ketchup bottles' Heinz logos with Bush '04 stickers. Talk about paranoid. Luckily, there's now a ketchup alternative for those who must proclaim their politics from the picnic table: W Ketchup. Made from the finest ingredients! Bulk orders available.(via Nurse Ratched) ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-15-10:27 p.m.: HEH. On the site "Empire Wilderness," AAIO is listed as an "Ypsi-area blog." Heh. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-15-10:17 p.m.: BOOKS READ: Haakon Chevalier's "Oppenheimer: The Story of a Friendship." Chevalier, fingered by Oppenheimer during the Cold War/McCarthy Era as a Soviet sympathizer, does little to elucidate the murky "Chevalier incident" involving Chevalier's alleged approach to Oppenheimer with the proposal that they pass atomic secrets to the Soviets.Chevalier casts himself within these pages as a longtime devoted friend who was shocked to hear what Oppy told investigators about him. His story rings a tad hollow--it's a stretch to imagine that someone whom Oppenheimer had so harmed in his professional life would so magnanimously round off the book by saying he remembered Oppy as a dear friend. Oppenheimer is painted here as a power-hungry scientist who didn't hesitate to harm people by naming names. At any rate, something's missing in this book, and we may never know the true story. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-14-8:00 p.m.: RAINBOW: The sun came out after an evening spell of light rain, so I peeked out the back door and, sure enough, a giant softly glowing rainbow hung in the eastern sky over neighbors' trees. I sat on the back stoop to watch it grow more intense, at one point spawning a faint double rainbow, but it's now fading as the sun sinks. I took a few pictures, though, of the bright band of colors lined on the inside with indigo and the outside with red, including in the picture frame some purple plumes of the buddleia bush as evidence of the summer's prolific beauty, to wistfully pore over, come winter. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-13-10:47 p.m.: SUMMER'S LEAVING and we barely had a chance to enjoy it What fall encroachments have you observed? Ypsidixit:--a few sumacs in Gallup Park turning fiery orange-red,  BOOKS READ: Matthew Brzezinski's "Fortress America: On the Front Lines of Homeland Security--an Inside Look at the Coming Surveillance State" This non-partisan, non-alarmist analysis of security measures taken since 9/11, written by a New York Times magazine and Wall Street Journal contributing writer, offers a fascinating look at what turns out to be a sketchy U.S. response to terrorist threats. One of the book's many highlights compares America's patchwork of new security measures to the sophisticated and effective techniques of Israel, which is widely regarded as expert in counterterrorism. The CIA pays homage to Israel's expertise by requiring would-be agents to travel to Israel and back using false papers, as a test. Not many make it (a call to Washington usually clears up the embarrassment of stranded neophyte agents). Israeli citizens undergo security checks at malls, even, and the country's key power and industrial plants are guarded military-style. The contrast is an eye-opening example of the higglety-pigglety nature of new U.S. security measures, and is only one of the many reasons why I'd recommend this thought-provoking book. I will also say that this book changed my perspective somewhat on the idea of Orwellian omni-surveillance, offering as it does the facts that such measures are common in Europe and Britain and that they have indeed helped in snagging potential terrorists. Any book that can change, to some degree, a splintery indignant libertarian-style knee-jerk fervor against governmental surveillance is probably worth checking out. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-13-12:17 p.m.: EULOGY: With permission from Ryan Kenneth Hurst's housemate Zachary W., I'm re-posting the eulogy he left for Mr. Hurst, who was the gentleman who recently died and was found at the railroad bridge at Forest."This link was passed along to me, and I appreciate all the great info. I lived in the same house as Ryan, the man that passed away this past Tuesday. He lived in the apt. downstairs, and I live upstairs. It has been very hard for me to accept that he is gone. He was a wonderful person, who was full of life. I too hope that nobody contributed to his death, but am not sure exactly the events that led him to the river that day and to his eventual drowning." "Ryan was very accepting of the people of Riverside park, the homeless in Ypsi, and people in general. He chose to look at the good in people, and in life." "I am not sure what made him go into the water that day, but it hurts to know that someone so wonderful will never have the chance to hug his family again or spread any more love to people that he will come in contact with--at least not in this world." "I have lived in Ypsi for several years and know the good and bad sides (which exist everywhere). I will be moving from here soon, and hope that we will do our part to improve the communities in which we live and the peoples' lives who we live with and around. Thanks for caring about your community! ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-13-10:01 a.m.: JULIA CHILD DIES IN HER SLEEP at 91, in her Santa Barbara home. On her show, which have been on the air since I can remember, Ms. Child always good-natured and upbeat, making jokes and making the viewer feel that they too could whip up this delicious quiche or that savory roast. She was so far as I know universally loved and affectionately regarded and leaves a large legacy of books and shows.(npr) ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-12-10:28 p.m.: U.S. OVERPOPULATED? "During the 1970s, U.S. overpopulation attracted concern. Because of the impact of the post World War II "Baby Boom," the threat of population growth was serious. Between 1950 and 1970, U.S. population had grown by 52 million people...In 1970, U.S.. population stood at 203 million. Popular books addressed the problem in urgent tones. Corporate leaders sounded the alarm with banner advertisements in leading newspapers. Even the federal government took note: at the request of President Richard M. Nixon, Congress empanelled a commission headed by John D. Rockefeller III to conduct a two-year study of population and the American future. The commission's 1972 report generated such interest that it was republished as a mass-market paperback. Famously it stated, "We have looked for, and have not found, any convincing economic argument for continued population growth. The health of our country does not depend on it, nor does the vitality of business nor the welfare of the average person.""...The old Baby Boom was driven by an upsurge in births. Today's growth is an Immigration Boom. Business and industry favor it, because it keeps wages low. Government perpetuates it in response to the wishes of industry, and because of the growing political power of the foreign-born vote. And [environmental activists] keep silent about it for several reasons: [they don't want to be seen as anti-immigrant...most of the public doesn't appreciate the connection between population and environmental degradation...America is now more theocratic, with religious fundmentalists and other antichoice activists in the ascendancy...]" "...The United States now ranks third in population after India and China, and is growing at a science-fiction-like pace...If present rates continue, U.S. population will double in less than seventy years, creating the same population density China had in 1950, when it first considered instituting a one-child policy." 20th Century U.S. Population Growth U.S. Population Growth, 1950-1970 and 1980-2000 (--Alan Kuper's "From Sentience to Silence: How the Environmental Establishment Changed Its Tune on U.S. Overpopulation," Aug./Sept. issue, Free Inquiry magazine) ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-12-9:39 p.m.: YPSIDIXIT WAS ABOUT TO have a few chips or maybe a couple of the anchovy-stuffed olives she raked in for her birth--I mean, she received from a generous gift-giver, till she read this tale of a 480-pound Florida woman who "melded" to her couch after lying on it for six years.Ummm...I think Clover wants to go for a walk now. In fact, I'm sure of it. Clover! (metafilter) ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-12-5:49 p.m.: A NEW LOW: British courts have ruled that evidence obtained under torture is admissible in court...provided the torturers aren't British. Story. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-12-12:42 p.m.: ON A LIGHTER NOTE, here's an upcoming fun, home-grown event that might otherwise be lost in the hubbub of the Heritage Festival:�The Smeet Frog Conspiracy�: Dreamland Theater. August 20-22 & 28. Kirk Kitchen and Naia Venturi direct their original marionette show that features little Timmy and his faithful sidekick pup Toby, who together explore the intrigue swirling around the fictitious Smeet Frog, a handsome gliding frog with an equable disposition that�s said to haunt the shadier bits of Frog Island and environs in Ypsilanti. Original music by Elisa Grey. 11 a.m. and 1, 3, & 5 p.m., [note: times vary after opening day.] Dreamland Theater, 44 E. Cross, Depot Town, Ypsilanti. Tickets $5 (students & seniors, $3) in advance or at the door. 657-2337. (copyright 2004 Ann Arbor Observer). I love the idea of home-grown stories about Ypsi, and I've enjoyed every puppet show I've seen at the Dreamland. This one sounds particularly good; I'm looking forward to it. There will be a sequel the following month involving a mystery concerning the Water Tower. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-11-12:50 a.m.: YPSI HOME HIT BY HOMELAND SECURITY SWAT TEAM: My co-worker told a chilling tale today. The elderly couple across the street from her in the Normal Park neighborhood got a visit from Homeland Security. Note: a couple of minor details are changed in this story to protect the couple's privacy.A number of cars pulled up outside their Ypsi home a couple of days ago. Homeland Security showed the homeowners, a gentleman who grows roses and a lady who collects cow figurines, a federal warrant that was OK'd by the Ypsi Police Department. In came the agents. The agents confined the couple in one room and searched the home. When the gentleman asked if he could go make a coffee, his request was denied. The agents confiscated the gentleman's receipts from his roofing business and his computer and took these items. The couple was shown a surveillance photo taken of their home from last April (they knew it was April due to the presence of a car they owned at that time that they no longer owned.) They were questioned as to why they'd visited Santa Fe recently. And then the agents left. Leaving behind an empty space where the computer had been, no business receipts, and a violated home. Right here in Ypsilanti, folks. Who's next? If Ypsidixit puts enough terrorism-related keywords into this little blog, will it ring the Ashcroft bell? I have to laugh to think of the homeland drones poring through file after file of my mediocre poetry on my tediously slow computer. But the laughter seems to die down pretty quick. Ypsidixit is a bit frustrated because she gets the impression that this couple is not the type to make a BIG STINK and scream to every media outlet/civil rights group possible, which is exactly what they need to do. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-11-8:02 p.m.: REPRESENTING YPSILANTI IN THE 2004 OLYMPICS is the nation's best high-jumper, Jamie Nieto.Sacramento-born Chula Vista resident Nieto graduated EMU in 1999 and credits the school with his subsequent success. "If I hadn't gone to Eastern Michigan, I probably would have gone to Berkeley and spent time hanging out with my friends," says Nieto. The Olympic high jump should be an exciting race. Nieto's ranked in the top flight for prelims, and he's tied with the *seven other top high jumpers in the nation* with a personal best of 7 feet, 4.25 inches. Nieto is motivated in part by personal tragedy. He'd trained with his friend Al Heppner, a race walker, and roomed with him in the Olympic training center in Chula Vista while they both prepared for the Olympic trials. When Heppner failed to make the team, he committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. "I wanted to make the team for Al," says Nieto. "I miss him. I pray his spirit will be with me in Athens." Olympic track and field competitions begin August 18, skip August 19, and continue August 20-28 in the main Olympic complex. Ypsidixit wonders if you'll be tuning in to any part of the Olympics (as a former quarter miler, mile-relayer, shot-putter, and discus thrower, I wouldn't mind seeing those events). (via Free Press) ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-10-6:51 p.m.: BODY FOUND NEAR FROG ISLAND BREWERY: Eastbound on Cross, I cut through the Farmer's Market and, astonished, saw 2 ambulances, a fire vehicle, and two cop cars parked with lights flashing--but no sirens. I walked up to join a small group of people standing on the south side of Forest by the tracks. About twenty feet north of Forest, on the east edge of the train bridge, stood five men. One more clambered up from the river carrying a paramedic's bag. Body language said it all. One man crossed Forest to join our group. "They found the body," he said.One Ypsilantian's story ended violently today in the rocky river, under a leaden sky threatening rain, with the only witnesses silent clusters of strangers. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-10-12:29 p.m.: VICTORIAN LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS: As many know, the Victorians ascribed various meanings to various plants, so that when you gave someone a bouquet, you could insult them--or confess your tenderest hopes. As a child, Ypsidixit had an antique list of the Language of Flowers in an old tattered encyclopedia, which was lost years ago to my regret. But I've found a good Language of Flowers online, a list that combines 5 19th-century sources into one handy and authorative list!I checked a few of the plants in my yard to see what they're saying about me. In our frill-free modern life, the Language of Flowers seems like a waste of time. However, Ypsidixit advocates its revival, in order for people to develop more of a connection to the Earth via its plants, and just because it's a graceful thing. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-09-11:17 p.m.: PROZAC HAS BEEN FOUND in British drinking water. When United States Geological Survey surveyors sampled 139 rivers and streams recently, they found hundreds of drugs in the water--with many cities too poor to afford the pricey charcoal filters needed to screen things out. And there's speculation that agricultural and lawn care products are causing the large "dead zone" in the Gulf.If these issues are a concern to you, you may like this poem by local blogger Dirtgrain (reprinted with permission): Chemlawn Fields of grass, Babies crawling, rolling, eating The virus spreads. --Dirtgrain ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-09-8:35 p.m.: YPSIDIXIT conducted a small experiment in social psychology today, unbeknownst to her colleagues. My thesis: well, I didn't have one, but I didn't get hung up on that.On a paper plate at lunchtime, I invitingly arranged eight gaily colored plastic thumb-sized mini-maracas left over from the treasure hunt. I made a sign that said, "Mini-maracas!/Help yourself!" Exclamation points were used to make it more exciting. I drew a festive ring of pink dots around the words with a pink highlighter. Data gathered on subsequent coffee trips revealed that Person A politely took only one around 1 p.m. One matching set of 2 vanished due to Person B around 3 p.m. Then there was a lull. Then--here's where I pricked up my ears--Person A apparently came back and, observing that the demand for mini-maracas was less strong than Person A had inititially gauged it to be, then judged it OK to take the mini-maraca that matched the one they took at 1 p.m. Another set vanished around 5 p.m., presumably by Person C fetching a lunchpail from the fridge before leaving. One lone set remains, sitting quietly on its plate on the kitchen counter through the long, dark night at the office, two stories up in Kerrytown. Its eventual fate? I'll keep you posted. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-09-12:02 p.m.: YPSILANTI SOLDIER KILLED: 20-year-old Spc. Donald R. McCune died Thursday in Germany as a result of wounds received in Iraq. He was a member of Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment, 81st Brigade Combat Team based in Washington. Story.UPDATE: Granholm ordered flags lowered to half-staff on Thursday in honor of Spc. McCune. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-09-2:03 a.m.: BOOKS READ: Jo Anne Van Tilburg's "Among Stone Giants: The Life of Katherine Routledge and Her Remarkable Expedition to Easter Island." This gripping, can't-put-it-down (it's 2 a.m. on a work night, sheesh) biography of a strong-willed upper-class English woman details her 1914 voyage to Easter Island and her lifelong struggle with hearing voices and eventual full-blown schizophrenia, to which she succumbed. Rebelling against the genteel country-estate life, Routledge fought to attend Oxford, which then had few women scholars. She married an adventuresome man, and together they built a yacht and sailed successfully to E.I. Katherine documented the island's moia and interviewed some of the last surviving islanders who remembered the old ways. Her marriage grew cold and she and her husband spent months apart during the turbulent E. I. sojourn. FAVORITE PARAGRAPH: "[During one such estrangement from her husband], some days Katherine rode into the field. Once she camped alone on the remote northwest coast, and another time she spent a week among the silent statues at Rano Raraku. These forays may have been attempts to seek meditative silence and, possibly, to still voices that, for the first time since she had been on the island, were a problem..." Can you imagine camping alone among such creepy statues, with the only sound a lonely wind sweeping over the grass--and the occasional delusional voice speaking out of nowhere--and, when you peek out the tent, a statue-shaped darkness blotting out the stars? (shiver). ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-08-1:35 a.m.: BOOKS READ: Carlos Mordo's "Easter Island" (birthday book). Filled with breathtaking photography, this book immediately made me want to visit this island, the most remote inhabited spot on the planet, and sent me off Googling for more information. What I found shocked me. Pollen analysis reveals that when Polynesian peoples arrived around A.D. 400, the island was thickly forested with a larger relative of a contemporary Chilean palm that grows to six feet in diameter. (One of the Easter Islanders' gods is Tale, "first man: lord of the forests.") The plentiful trees were fashioned into giant sleds for the famous huge stone heads called moia. The moia, thought to represent honored ancestors, were sledded belly-down over wooden rollers up to 12 miles to their coastal destinations, where they were erected on stone platforms called ahu. Around 1500, the island became completely deforested. Also around 1500, the formerly plentiful porpoise bones in excavated garbage dumps disappeared. In forest days, the islanders had hunted ocean-going porpoise and deep-water tuna in huge wooden boats. When the trees were gone, they could no longer venture out far enough to catch porpoise. Here the story turns grim. In 1620, the last ahu was constructed, and by 1680, the people, who formerly lived in large, elegant boat-shaped homes, started living in caves--for defensive purposes. Human bones, many cracked for the marrow, become a common find in garbage heaps as an epidemic of cannibalism raged over the island. By the time Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen came along in 1722 (on Easter day), the island's people lived a desperate, primitive life marked by constant clan warfare. By the mid-1800s, all of the 393 moia erected on the 113 ahu around the coast had been toppled by rival clans and lay fallen--some were toppled by sporadic European visitors as well. None stood. Modern efforts have re-erected some of the moia, but many remain fallen. All of the moia were excavated from one site, where 397 still remain in various states of completion. Another 97 remain scattered along the roads to the coastal ahu--stranded by the death of the last forests' remnants that doomed the island's people. More about the last days of Easter Island. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-07-9:30 p.m.: MY WHOLE FAMILY just left after a wonderfully fun afternoon of hanging out, yakking, having a beer/wine, and a make-your-own-kebab plus ribs plus potato salad plus &c. eatfest grillin' blowout. It was GREAT.I received lots and lots of lovely birthday presents including (highlight) six Easter Island face statues which I'm going to put on the little island in my pond, per my sister's suggestion. :) Fun! Books, jewelry, a garden cart, good heavens, those people went way overboard. It was so much fun. I just loved spending time with everyone. The treasure hunt was a huge hit. The kids loved it, totally got into it, and for the following hour and 1/2 continued hiding things for each other to find, after getting the secret clue. :) Very fun to see them so excited. A backup balloon craft went well, too. All in all a glorious day. We sat at a big table in the back yard (cobbled together from a workbench, card table, and some plywood, under tablecloths) and just had the best time....good memories. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-06-10:21 p.m.: YPSIDIXIT�S 2- AND 5-YEAR OLD NEPHEWS will be visiting tomorrow, and the little treasure hunt I decided to create for them is, true to Ypsidixit�s morose frame of mind, turning into a dark meditation on globalization. I stopped off at Dollar Mania on the way home to scoop up some fun doodads for the treasure hunt, which items currently lie spread out on the carpet here in Ypsidixit�s office. The little plastic flutes, plastic mini-maracas, plastic star-shaped sunglasses, and plastic �Happy Face Pencil Sharpeners,� all made in China, make me wonder what the Chinese workers bending over these items for 8 hours a day think of our society. The ubiquity of oil-derived plastic in the products and their packaging make me wonder why we�re pillaging the Earth for trifles that will be lost and forgotten in a week. The necessity people feel for constant unrelenting consumeristic entertainment make me wonder why we can�t just be content to sit and look at the clouds for awhile.Ypsidixit realizes she�s in the minority and that the kids will be thrilled to pursue plastic doodads on a treasure hunt. The treasure hunt is on. But, given that Ypsidixit�s favorite thing to do these days is loll in �the loop� in Gallup Park on the way home, lie on the grass, eat a sandwich, watch the sky, and feel totally restful and contented, she wonders if things in general should just slow down a bit. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-06-11:26 a.m.: THE UNLIKELY THEFT of a leather couch is today's Police Beat highlight. Other items include a Good Samaritan saving a neglected toddler wandering down Ellsworth and a scary near miss with an AK-47 and its idiot owner. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-05-10:30 p.m.: IRAQ'S FIRST AND ONLY REALITY TV SHOW offers extreme makeovers--of houses destroyed by the war. The crew of "Labor and Materials" comes in and completely rebuilds and refurnishes damaged houses. It's funded by donations from other Iraqis--Muslims are mandated by a precept known as zakat to donate one-fifth--one-fifth--of their yearly income to charity. EXCERPT: "[Owner of a damaged home] Mr. Kadouri applied to a host of aid agencies - US, European, and Iraqi - without result. Then [the show] chose them for its second house. (Usually, families apply via e-mail - so far, the station has received 3,000 applications from Baghdad alone)." Ypsidixit is sad to read that 3,000 homeowners are residing in damaged homes, hoping for the one-in-3,000 chance that they'll be picked for the next rejuvenation. Ypsidixit imagines her own small, cherished house reduced to war-torn rubble, and her own desperate plea to a TV show for help, and regrets that "Labor and Materials" politely declines non-Iraqi offers of financial support. (via excellent-as-always Christian Science Monitor story) ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-05-10:49 p.m.: BOOKS READ: Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle."This elegant, thought-provoking, Hugo Award-winning dystopian novel portrays the U.S. as it might have been had the Axis won WWII. The U.S. is carved into two fiefdoms, one under Japanese and one under German rule. Dick uses a multi-focal approach to explore the perspectives of a dealer in prewar American pop culture artifacts (now immensely valuable), a "Swedish" businessman, and a take-no-prisoners judo instructor. The novel raises ontological questions that are rather too quickly wrapped up in a rapid conclusion, and I found the sole major female character to be a bit flat. But for the skillful exploration of the book's intriguing premise, the subtlety of several key interactions between characters, and the inventiveness of such details as the novel's fake-American-pop-culture-artifact-underground-industry, this novel is highly recommended. Note: I found a very good quality hardcover book club edition of Man at the Cross Street Book Shop for $9. While looking for an image to accompany this post, I noted that similar editions were selling for anywhere from $12 to $50. One more bit of evidence that Cross St. is the place to go (plus I had the pleasure of 20 minutes of chat about the book with the ever-knowledgeable if not living encyclopedia Sheridan). ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-05-6:07 p.m.: A KIND READER sends a question that I'll post here just in case anyone else is pondering a recumbent:"I occasionally ride my mtn bike to work, and have been very interested in your experiences with your new recumbent, since I am thinking about buying one to ride to work instead of the mtn bike. But, part of my route is on dirt roads. Does your recumbent do well on dirt roads, or does it require paved roads?" With the bike's current set of narrow road tires, it prefers paved roads. On hard-packed dirt with little gravel, it's fine. In mushy sand or in gravel, it doesn't do well. HOWEVER, the wheels are quick-release, and the gentlemen at Bicycles in Town told me they could easily swap out the road tires currently in there and put in chunkier mtn bike tires, which would probably make dirt roads a lot easier to deal with. I'm thinking about doing this in late fall/early winter, when there will be a bit of snow and ice around on the ground. Overall, the bike's ability to eliminate any back and neck pain, and the increased power you get from the seatback, means that you can go farther with less effort--that is such a concrete gain that it might outweigh any slight difficulty on a dirt road. Of course, I don't need to tell you that one good thing to do would be to visit the nice folks at Bicycles in Town, who will do everything they can, I daresay, to answer any questions and let you try one out. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-04-10:47 p.m.: EVER FEEL YOU WERE BORN IN THE WRONG CENTURY? I know several people who, like me, are a bit at sea in the 21st century and feel an affinity for earlier times. Such folk tend to lack TV and AC and dishwashers and such, and have functioning antiques as part of the decor, such as Ypsidixit's rotary phone, candle wall sconces, and antiquated 4-poster bed.Despite its privations and hardships, mid-19th-century frontier Michigan life appeals to Ypsidixit, a displaced girl of the Limberlost who frequently plays the mental game of "what would Laura Ingalls think of..." (big metal boxes zooming down flat non-muddy roads, magical voice-machines with which to talk to distant people, light-boxes that connect with strangers' online diaries). Ypsidixit is lucky and thankful to enjoy a modest yet cushy lifestyle ringed by the teeming blessings of modern life...but she suspects we'd all be better off if we were all a bit more isolated on our own Walden Ponds. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-04-7:50 p.m.: IRRITATING POETRY DEPT.: SAGINAW-BORN poet Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) named his father's greenhouse as one of his main inspirations. I like his vertiginous little poem "Child On Top of a Greenhouse" but have always found his "I Knew a Woman" to be cutesy and a bit forced--I don't think he really "measure[s] time by how a body sways," whatever that means. Another irritating line in this poem: "When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them." I don't know of anyone who has the time or inclination to sit around sighing at birds, and I don't think Theodore Roethke did, either. It's a tad precious. "The Waking" has a similar overemphasis on meter and rhyme at the expense of plain old down-to-earth meaning--it's all a bit too gratuitously mystical for the rough-hewn Ypsidixit.So much for Theodore Roethke. Give me (current American poet laureate) Billy Collins any day. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-04-8:39 a.m.: THE PRIMARY results (unofficial) from the 23% of registered Washtenaw voters who voted. Highlights: Jamnick beat Roe for Twp. Supervisor, and Stumbo and Doe retain their positions. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-03-6:59 p.m.: GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR is an interesting technology that can find unmarked graves, locate landmines, or detect hazardous waste. It generally scans about 10 ft. below ground, but with sandy soil or granite can go down to 100 ft., and in a "packed salt environment" can go down 5,000 ft.. Ypsidixit would love to pore over a GPR survey of Prospect Park, but with prices beginning around $1,000 a day she'll have to content herself with her fogeyish yet fun metal detector. ____________________________________________________________________________________________2004-08-03-6:36 p.m.: PRIMARY: Ypsi Twp. is using a new and strange voting system this year. You get a nearly poster-sized piece of banner-shaped cardboard with two columns, D & R, for voting a straight ticket. After inking in a bunch of circles the ballot is sucked into a copier-like reader. I like the ease of use and paper-trail aspect and hope this system will be used come November. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
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CRITICAL MASS CYCLISTS ARRESTED IN NYC: One arrested cyclist, Joshua Kinberg (inventor of the device shown at left) reports: "When I arrived in the Tombs, I was placed in a cell with around 30 other cyclists. They had spent the previous night in a location they were affectionately calling "Lil' Gitmo," a makeshift detention center on the West Side piers converted from a former bus depot. Lil' Gitmo had cells sectioned off with chain link fence and razor wire, and a floor covered in motor oil, transmission fluid, and other toxic chemicals. The cyclists detained there were forced to sleep on this hazardous floor wearing nothing more than bicycling shorts and t-shirts...Several had been arrested when specifically following police directions to exit the peaceful bike ride." 
YPSILANTI'S 1921 BASEBALL TEAM impresses Ypsidixit with its gravity. The second row poses with hands on knees, and team camaraderie may be seen in the elbows slopping over onto teammates in the front row. These boys played games six years before Ypsidixit's father was born, and their sons fought in WWII and bought houses, after the Great War, in Ypsidixit's 1940s-era east-of-Prospect-Park neighborhood of ex-GI-starting-a-family small starter homes. Ypsidixit wonders if the allegedly eccentric ex-GI duck hunter bachelor who owned this home before her was the child of one of these grave gentlemen.