News and Reviews
Blog Post
Media consolidation: Coming soon to a city near you
by remnil
Today, the Federal Communications Commission has given media companies a bit more freedom. On party lines, the Commission voted to allow businesses to own both newspapers and television or radio stations in the same city. So what does this mean? It means that MediaNews Group, owners of the The Detroit News could start buying up Detroit television stations, if they so choose.
Proponents of such restrictions worry that media consolidation stifles critical voices in a community. If multiple media in a city are owned by the same people, chances are you'll be hearing the same stories - and the same opinions. However, opponents like the FCC argue that, in the Internet age, there are plenty of alternative voices through blogs and other online news sources. All such restrictions do hasten the death of newspapers.
So should we be worrying about Rupert Murdoch and his ilk snatching up newspapers and TV stations? Or have the Arbor Updates and Ann Arbor is Overrateds of the world changed how we consume news? What do you think?
Blog Post
Kid Bits - more TOOTH stories
by ryanikoglu
Who stole my tooth?! "I'm gonna send them Airmail To The Moon." This is what Ora Mae Cotton is going to do to the person who stole her tooth. She was saving it for the tooth fairy of course!
Dear Tooth Fairy: A Harry & Emily Adventure is Emily's letter to the tooth fairy in anticipation of a tooth falling out. Throw Your Tooth On The Roof tells tooth tales/traditions from around the world. AND then there's Mabel The Tooth Fairy And How She Got Her Job... another view all together...
Blog Post
Black, White, Just Right! by Marguerite Davol
by Tahira
First published in 1993 Black, White, Just Right! by Marguerite W. Davol celebrates the similarities and differences of an interracial family.
Blog Post
Life of Nathaniel Stacy, first Universalist pastor in Ann Arbor
by amy
submitted by Wystan Stevens
The St. Andrew's history committee should check out this book, which I discovered during a Google Books search. Nathaniel Stacy published his memoirs in 1850, and this rare volume is now in the Universalist collection at Harvard University -- and fully readable online. Stacy was invited in 1835 to pastor the Ann Arbor Universalist congregation, and he came and stayed here about five years. He discusses the establishment of the Universalist church in Michigan, his acquaintance with Mssrs. Kellogg and Fuller, businessmen of Lower Town Ann Arbor who were members of his congregation, and his conversion to Universalism of John Williams, an ex-Calvinist (Presbyterian) farmer of Webster Township. The Ann Arbor material in Stacy's book begins on page 383.
Stacy's account has several pages on his own financial troubles, and he relates them in strong terms to the immoral craze of speculation that afflicted Michigan in the 1830s -- the era of Wildcat Banks and worthless paper money. The St. Andrew's history committee should relish the account of his doctrinal dispute with the pastors of the mainline protestant churches of Ann Arbor, which resulted in a public challenge to debate each of them -- either in his pulpit or in their own.
The debate challenge was flung boldly, via a letter printed in the Ann Arbor Argus and the Ann Arbor Journal, and it was ignored by all of the pastors except, finally, Mr. Marks, the Episcopal minister, who published his retort to Stacy (a lengthy letter) in the same newspapers. After that, Marks avoided Stacy on the street. Then he left town . . . .
Portrait of Rev. Nathaniel Stacy, in the fronticepiece of his memoirs:
Around page 450, Stacy writes briefly of his return visit to Ann Arbor years later, by train.
Blog Post
Pitching in for Eubie by Jerdine Nolen
by Tahira
Lily’s sister Eubie just got a scholarship to college. The family has to raise $3000 for room and board. Everyone pitches in to help. Mama takes in sewing, Eubie baby-sits, Papa and Jacob will take on extra work. What can Lily do? Jerdine Nolan tells a heartwarming story of a family working hard to make a dream come true.
Blog Post
Fairy Bits - New Stuff
by ryanikoglu
If your passion is pixies, check these out. In the Realm Of The Never Fairies: The Secret World Of Pixie Hollow packs fairy lore and pictures of fantasy worlds. Gail Carson Levine's Fairy Haven And The Quest For The Wand is one more fairy quest novel. Both are especially fun for upper elementary grades. And then there is the Disney Fairy site where kids can create their own fairies and share with others.
Blog Post
History Bits - After Pearl Harbor
by ryanikoglu
Miss Breed was the first Children's Librarian in San Diego Public Library. Dear Miss Breed is the story of "quiet acts of courage" following The bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. "Her children" were American citizens of Japanese ancestry. As families were sent away to internment camps, Miss Breed handed them penny postcards printed with her return address. She sent books, letters, paper dolls, and small packages of "treasure" to the children in Poston Camp III. Her acts touched the lives of dozens of children for the rest of their lives. Her letters are lost, but she saved the children's letters. They and tell this Hero story !
Blog Post
Attention Comcast Customers: AADL Emails Fixed!
by eli
Thanks to a quick response from Comcast, email from AADL to Comcast email subscribers is again going through. However, some emails sent on 11/28 and 11/29 may have been missed and cannot be resent, so if you're a comcast subscriber, please be sure to check your myaccount page for the most up-to-date account information.
Thanks for your patience, and as always, please feel free to contactus or comment on this post if you have any questions.
Blog Post
Billy and Belle by Sarah Garland
by Tahira
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Billy and Belle are brother and sister. Their Mum is expecting a baby. When Belle goes to school with Billy while Mum is in the hospital, Belle causes a little mishap with the pets on Pet Day. This is a warm story of love and caring in an interracial family.
Blog Post
Kid Bits - Fantasy
by ryanikoglu
A Library Patron recommended this title for family fun, and I agree. Emmy And The Incredible Shrinking Rat. It reminds me a bit of Roald Dahl's Matilda because of the bad nanny and the smart kid; a bit of Indian In The Cupboard because of the shrinking characters; and a bit Charlotte's Web because of the wise animals. You might like it too.
Blog Post
Sanborn Maps
by wheloc
Want to know more about your house? Then you need the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. These indispensable tools for historical cartographic research were created by the Sanborn Map and Publishing Company to help fire insurance companies find who they needed to bill and what they needed to pay, they now serve as an important record of America's urbanization.
The maps cover some 12,000 cities and towns across the country and were published from 1867 to 1970. Many libraries and historical societies will carry maps of their surrounding areas. The Ann Arbor District Library has copies (on micro film) for Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan, Saline, and Ypsilanti (with dates from 1884 to 1948). They can be found in the micro film drawers (2nd floor, way behind the periodicals desk).
Blog Post
We Want Wiis!
by remnil
If you braved the streets for Black Friday, or even if you didn't, you might have been seeking a Nintendo Wii, the hottest gaming console of its generation. Wiis may be in short supply this season, according to the BBC, so those holiday Wii-seekers might be especially rabid.
The likely holiday rush on Wiis is yet more proof that Nintendo is clearly winning this latest round of console wars, a particularly astounding feat considering that Microsoft's Xbox 360 had momentum on its side, having been launched nearly a year earlier. Key to Nintendo's success, many say, are their efforts to reach out to "nontraditional" gamers. Equally astounding as the Wii's dominance is the pitiful performance of Sony's Playstation 3, considering Sony's trouncing of competitors in the last generation of console wars.
Of course, if you're not one of the fortunate few who manage to get a Wii this holiday season, fear not! You might just be able to play a round of Wii Sports at AADL's fabulous gaming tournaments.
Blog Post
DVD Bits - Think "Music"
by ryanikoglu
Culture by way of music ... What a way to experience! The following films are great ethno-music journeys. Take a musical journey with Rom People as they migrate from Rajastan through Europe in Latcho Drom. Visit Cuba with Ry Cooder as he works with musicians who were "Hot" in pre-Castro Cuba Buena Vista Social Club.
Blog Post
Longone's Lost Cookbook Author
by Debbie G.
Ann Arbor's own Jan Longone, curator of the Longone Culinary Archive at the William L. Clements Library makes an appearance today in the New York Times with A 19th Century Gost Awakens to Redefine Soul, about Jan's quest to uncover more information about Malinda Russell, author of "the earliest cookbook by an African-American woman that had ever come to light." The Ann Arbor District Library is one of the lucky recipients of a limited-edition facsimile of the only known copy of Mrs. Russell’s cookbook from the Longone Center. The Ann Arbor Cooks website provides digital access to a growing collection of heirloom local cookbooks.
Blog Post
The DKE house at 1912 Geddes Avenue, 1913-1967
by amy
(Click for larger view.)
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
I looked up the City Directory information on the house at 1912 Geddes (across from the entrance to the Arboretum), which is pictured here on a lovely handcolored Albertype postcard view, from c. 1930, that was published by Ann Arbor book merchant George Wahr. The photo shows the house after it had become home to the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) Fraternity, which was Gerald Ford's fraternity while he was a student at Michigan in the 1930s.
This house was built as a private residence for George W. Millen, and is first listed in the 1913 directory. Millen was a vice president of Ann Arbor's Farmers and Mechanics Bank.
The Dekes moved here when their former home on State Street was demolished for construction of the U-M Law Quadrangle. They had occupied that house for about 35 years. The DKE Shant, their ceremonial meeting place on East William, never was a residence.
When Millen left 1912 Geddes, he moved to 816 East University Avenue. The Dekes were here until 1967, when the house burned down. Another building now occupies the site, but the lot was empty for quite a few years after the old one burned.
Blog Post
Jonathan Franzen's Non Fiction
by pumpkin
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Jonathan Franzen is known for his novels, especially “The Corrections” of several years back. But did you know that he is an engaging and intelligent non-fiction writer as well? I enjoyed his book of essays “How to be Alone,” which you will surmise is not a self-help book, but a more serious book about our culture. You might also like “The Discomfort Zone, a Personal History,” a memoir which displays a nice irony. Franzen can laugh at himself. You can find both these books, as well as Franzen’s novels in our collection.
Blog Post
Keep Climbing Girls by Beah E. Richards
by Tahira
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This picture book is based on a poem written by actor and playwright Beulah E. Richards, has a positive message for girls who want to reach for the stars.
Blog Post
Don't Miss This One
by french_film_grl
Water is a controversial and thought provoking 2006 film directed by Deepa Mehta. The film's setting is 1930's India. The main characters are widows who are forced to live solitary existences. In traditional Hindu culture, when a husband dies, the wife is forced into living out the rest of her life away from society in an ashram. Although, this chaste and meager existence is better than the traditional alternative of being cremated along with the husband, it is similar to a life of imprisonment.
But what happens when 8 year old Chuyia becomes a widow, and is forced to live this way? Her spunk, questioning, and need to live the life of an 8 year old make the women contemplate why this tradition even exists. Kalyani takes Chuyia under her wing, and the story unfolds from there.
This is a film not to be missed because of its questioning of traditional religious beliefs, and the exploration of women's rights. The setting, actors, and cinematography all come together to make this a wonderful and beautiful film. The official FFG rating of this movie is 9.
Blog Post
Fischer and Finnell Building: 1910 and Now
by amy
(Click for larger view.)
Photo montage by Kim Scarborough. Comments, below, by Wystan Stevens.
An interesting partnership -- Fischer was the son of German immigrants, and James Finnell was Irish, from a Northfield Township family. Although most of Ann Arbor's German settlers were Protestants, Fischer was a parishioner of St. Thomas Catholic Church. He and Finnell probably had gone to the parish school together. Finnell later became a traveling auctioneer, in the style of Braun and Helmer of these latter days.
The horse-drawn delivery van was one of a fleet of dozens operated by the Merchants' Delivery Company. A housewife could shop downtown on foot, or by way of the trolley, and not have to lug her packages home --the Merchants' Delivery took care of that chore.
The donkey was a photographer's prop. He would lead the docile animal through the neighborhoods, getting parents to pose their children with it. He probably charged a fee up front, then delivered the prints in person or by mail. As a child in the '30s, my brother posed in a cowboy outfit on the saddle of a pony led around in just this way. (My parents lived on Marshall Court, just a few blocks from this intersection.)
In the 1920s, this building was called "The Delta" because of its shape, but I don't know if that was the original name.
Blog Post
Is Consumerism Sustainable?
by remnil
Our consumer culture often produces several unfortunate side effects. Given all those negative effects, can we sustain our consumerism for much longer? That compelling question will be addressed by none other than Kai Ryssdal, host of the NPR business & finance program Marketplace, in a panel discussion next week. Kai will be joined several other notable folks at the event, which is co-sponsored by Michigan Radio and the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
Interested? The panel will be held on Friday, November 16th, from 11.00a to noon at the Ross School of Business. Find out more on Michigan Radio's events page.
Blog Post
Strike!
by remnil
You may be having a sense of deja vu when next you watch your favorite television television show. The Writers Guild of America, the folks responsible for much of the content on TV and in movies, is on strike. The sticking point? Authors want a bigger share of the lucrative DVD market and a stake in the burgeoning web market. Studios and networks say no way, not wanting to cut into their cash cow or hamper their efforts to draw in web viewers.
The effects will be felt most immediately in late night TV and other programming that relies heavily on current events, including, sadly, The Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Soap opera fans beware, for daytime television will follow shortly. Prime time TV and movies won't be affected immediately. Of course, if the strike lasts 5 months like the last one, even all you Lost addicts out there may be getting a bit of strike fatigue.
Blog Post
Calling All Yearbooks
by Debbie G.
The Ann Arbor District Library is looking for a few good high school yearbooks. Donations of past yearbooks from old Ann Arbor High School, Clemente, Community, Huron, Pioneer and Stone for our Local History Collection would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Debbie Gallagher at 327-8332 or gallagherd@aadl.org to make a donation or for more information about the Local History Collection.
Blog Post
Kid Bits - Just Say "NO !"
by ryanikoglu
If you liked the pigeon story in STORYTIME .... lookup other books by Mo Willems. You will find Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus; The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog; and Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late.
Just remember to say "No" at the right times, OK? ok.
Then you will be practiced up and ready for the next Storytime Series that begins the week of November 5, 2007 at your favorite Branch Library.
Blog Post
Saving for Retirement
by iralax
According to the October 2007 AARP Bulletin, People 55+ are somewhat clueless about financial matters, even as retirement looms. Jane Bryant Quinn writes that health insurance and a part-time job after retirement will be necessary hedges to Social Security for boomers with diminishing pensions and negligible personal savings. AADL subscribes to several periodicals that address financial planning for the second half of life, such as Money, Smart Money, Better Investing. We also have a big selection of books and other materials on personal finance, like Making Bread. Please come in and browse our shelves.
Blog Post
Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads 2008 Book Chosen
by iottJen
The Eighth Promise by William Poy Lee has been selected as the focus of the 2008 Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads. An eleven-member selection team, composed of community members, eduators, students and librarians from the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area chose The Eighth Promise (Rodale, 2007) from a group of three books, all of which centered on the theme China and America: Bridging Two Worlds.
Lee's memoir gives a rare view of the Chinese-American experience from a mother-son perspective. The story is told in two voices -- the author's and that of his mother. His moving and complex story unfolds simultaneously in his mother's war-torn childhood of China of the 1930s-40s and amidst the housing projects of San Francisco Chinatown of the 1960s-70s.
Blog Post
So much for cheap oil
by remnil
Those of us hoping for lower gas prices (read: pretty much everybody) had our hopes dashed this week as oil hit $90/barrel. And alas, with oil prices also come the gasoline prices.
So does there appear to be any relief in sight? Well, unfortunately oil has an, shall we say, unpredictable economic history. There is much talk about just how random these fluctuations are, though, and more specifically, just how much influence the petroleum industry has over them. OPEC often finds itself chief whipping boy when oil prices are on the rise.
On the up side, the seemingly inexorable rise in prices has created a perfect storm, causing many to call for laying off the black gold. Some consider our reliance on those shady folks in OPEC a huge national security issue. Environmentalists, like award winner extraordinaire Al Gore, increasingly push for reducing our demand for oil, too. And perhaps, just perhaps, as prices continue skyrocketing, more will join those diverse voices calling for change.
Blog Post
When A Kid Dreams by Joshua Johnson
by Tahira
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When A Kid Dreams explores the imagination and aspirations of childhood through poetry and pictures. Visit The Girl Who Flew and learn what happens if Everyone Wins in this wonderful book written and illustrated by local author and illustrator Joshua Johnson.
Blog Post
Ann Arbor Cooks
by amy
AADL is proud to present Ann Arbor Cooks, a new online database of local historical cookbooks and heirloom recipes, created in partnership with the Washtenaw County Historical Society, the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor and Ann Arbor Hadassah. The Washtenaw County Historical Society provided the core collection of cookbooks from their archives at the Museum on Main Street and will play a continuing role in enhancing the online collection with more items from their archives. Ann Arbor Cooks also presents a complete set of digital copies of Repast, a publication of the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor. So dig in! You can search or browse the entire collection of recipes; read the cookbooks cover to cover; or send us recipes of your own.
Blog Post
Fox television stations, now with added business!
by remnil
Not content with merely acquiring the businessperson's bible, Rupert Murdoch has been reaching business folks through the cable lines as well. The newly-launched Fox Business Network is positioned to compete with the previously (almost) unrivaled CNBC.
Certainly, Fox Biz Network must be hoping to snipe a few CNBC viewers. But at least based on the first week, it's not wholly clear that they'll attract the same people. CNBC is known for its sometimes, well, overly passionate commentary about the stock market. Fox Biz seems like it's going beyond the minutiae of the market to target a broader audience.
Television news, of course, has a sordid history, to which Mr. Murdoch has contributed his own fair share. The question on people's minds now is whether Fox Biz will do to CNBC what Fox News did to CNN, especially with the power of the Wall Street Journal behind it. Perhaps Murdoch is writing the next chapter in that sordid history.
Blog Post
Join us for the premiere of Ann Arbor Cooks!
by amy
Join us Downtown at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 25, for the premiere of Ann Arbor Cooks, our new online database of local historical cookbooks and heirloom recipes. On hand to introduce this new service will be the nationally-known (and always enjoyable!) heirloom cooking experts from New England, Marilynn and Sheila Brass, authors of Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters. This delightful evening includes a demonstration of Ann Arbor Cooks, a discussion of heirloom baking by the Brass sisters, and refreshments made by the Washtenaw County Historical Society from heirloom recipes. The Brass sisters will also sign their book, for sale at the event courtesy of Nicola's Books.