Ann Arbor Book Festival

I volunteered last year at the Street Fair for the Ann Arbor Book Festival. It rained all day, and I have never been so wet outside of a bathing suit in my entire life (well, except maybe for that time on the Snake River Falls ride at Cedar Point).

This year I did NOT volunteer, and it was gorgeous and sunny. I hope there's not some sort of karmic connection there. Not volunteering also gave me more time to enjoy the activities. At the Emerging Genres panel discussion, I appreciated author Ander Monson's (long hair, beard, in photo above) self-deprecating humor. He has published a book of essays called Neck Deep and Other Predicaments. He writes short essays because it's an appropriate medium for the mundane things that happen in his life. "Memoirs," he said, "are for authors who have really bad stuff happen to them. Nothing really that bad has happened to me. Well, except for that time that I got arrested." Ander might want to also try blogging.

There was an "open mic" for story and poetry reading in the Literacy Pavilion, and Kathlynn Sullivan (photo at right) from Ann Arbor Open school was among the brave students to read a sample of her work. She did a great job, and I enjoyed her poem. On the other hand, I didn't particularly enjoy the work of Kevin Pilkington, in the Poetry Pavilion sponsored by WEMU radio. I found his poetry to be hard-hearted, and one piece vaguely misogynistic.

As usual at this sort of event, CTN was there videotaping comments. A different twist was that radio personality Lucy Ann Lance was in the booth, asking folks to name the favorite book they've read this year. Young Jarvis seemed a little daunted, whether by the camera or Lucy Ann's vibrant personality, it was hard to tell. His favorite book was Artemis Fowl. (My favorite book this year, by the way, was John Adams by David McCullough.)

I don't know about you, but I've been in a near constant state of irritation since January 20, 2001. And the dismissal of the U.S. attorneys (including Michigan's Margaret Chiara) has really pushed me over the edge. So I've been considering becoming more politically active, maybe joining the local Democratic Party. But in Ann Arbor, being a member of the Democratic Party is kind of like having AAA car insurance– everybody does it. So I stopped by the ACLU booth and joined up. Josh Kay, the Grand Poobah for the ACLU's Washtenaw Branch, said the magic words, "you can staff our booth at Art Fair, and get into some really interesting arguments." Sounds like fun to me!

Picnic Pops

I suppose that if you didn’t have a child participating, you could spend your whole life in Ann Arbor unaware of the exceptional nature of our school music programs. And that you could see it in action at the annual “Picnic Pops” an entire day devoted to showcasing the Pioneer and Huron bands, along with the eighth grade ensembles from the various middle schools.

I heard groups from Tappan (pictured below), Clague and Huron perform. As many of you know, Pioneer received the Grammy Foundation Signature School award in 2006 for best high school music program in the country, and Huron has also been highly awarded by the Foundation. Ann Arbor and districts throughout the state are facing a serious budget crisis with our schools. Our bands in Ann Arbor are an example of the excellence that can be achieved when an entire community understands the importance of music in education.

In addition to the music, there were games (my favorite was the “Rooster Booster” – small rubber chickens catapulted in your direction, and you try to catch them in a basket), moonwalks, a cakewalk, and lots of prizes. One boy dropped a two-liter bottle of root beer on the sidewalk (by accident), and the bottle shot like a rocket about 30 feet across the lawn. He did not, unfortunately, win a prize. Only a “lucky you didn’t hit the car” comment from the grouchy man staffing the raffle of a new car, which barely avoided the shower of soda.

All age groups enjoyed the music and the day – toddlers to grandparents. Rain may have threatened, but the “ice cream social” atmosphere couldn’t be dampened.

Agrarian Adventure, and a New Burns Park “Run”

The last time I saw the sheep, it was making its escape down the hill of the Tappan Middle School athletic field. As I tried to catch up, all the while cursing my dead camera battery, it headed down Brockman with about 30 middle schoolers hot on its heels. When I run through Burns Park, I think “wow, look at all the houses for sale.” I wonder what the sheep was thinking? “Iiiyyyeeee! Freedom!!” perhaps? A dad turned to me, saying, “Can you imagine if the kids corner it in someone’s yard? …some poor lady who just planted all her impatiens last weekend.”

The renegade sheep was the cap of a sunny, springtime evening shared by over 200 locals at the Agrarian Adventure’s Spring Festival. The Agrarian Adventure is comprised of students and volunteers from Tappan, learning to integrate sustainable foods and healthy living into their own lives and in the day-to-day activities of school and the community. Kids and volunteers showed off the club’s brand-new greenhouse, as well as their garden and projects from the year. I don’t have a comprehensive list of the businesses who donated to the evening, but I know DuRussel’s Farm, Grazing Fields, Garden Works, Great Harvest Bread, Nature and Nurture, Needle Lane Farms, Tantre Farm, and Zingerman’s contributed goodies offered up as tea sandwiches, salads, and smoothies. I can vouch that the egg salad sandwiches with sunflower sprouts were divine! Pioneer High students, a local 4-H group, and other clubs joined in the fun, too – there were chickens, guinea pigs, and goats (two babies!), in addition to the restless sheep.

All of this brings to mind a news feature I saw on “the TV” recently. Tufts University’s Nutrition School shepherded a program in its community promoting healthy eating and exercise district-wide with “Shape Up Somerville.” Having read the headline in tonight’s Ann Arbor News that our own University of Michigan just hit $2.519 BILLION in its fundraising campaign, this begs a question. Surely the Maize and Blue can find the resources and the initiative to partner with it’s own hometown schools in taking sustainable foods, healthy eating, and exercise for our children to the next level? The U talks a good game about a diverse student body equaling a successful student body – wouldn’t you say that healthy eating and exercise habits are a key part of insuring that children of all walks of life today are the university students of tomorrow?