Ann Arbor : A Landscape In The Form Of A Letter To My Niece
ann arbor
a landscape in the form of a letter to my niece
by arwulf arwulf
Well you made your choice, and how interesting it is that you chose Ann Arbor. What you really chose, of course, was the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. A wise choice--Rackham' s a fine establishment and the Rackham building itself is one of the loveliest places I've ever stepped into or sat in front of. May I suggest an optimum vantage point for contemplation and reverie? Sit by the fountain near Burton Tower and gaze at the green copper roof, the austere dimensions of Rackham. From this distance you can appreciate the external design in its frontal entirety.
Look to your right. Here is the Michigan Women's League, which houses Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. Notice the enormous goddesses chiseled into the stone of the face of the League. Look now to the fountain itself, with a sort of Triton figure blowing his hom, escorted by water sprites and metallic fishes. You are sitting at the epicenter of one aspect of Ann Arbor, one remarkable plateau on our cultural landscape - the noble older architecture of central campus.
It was here at this fountain that I dangled my feet when I was 12 years of age. Along came a young man who asked me if I'd come help picket the local A&P grocery on behalf of oppressed migrant farm workers. And so it was I ended up leafletting for Caesar Chavez's cause at an early age. It came together at this fountain, 1969.
Back to Rackham: the "Lecture Hall," on the first floor, has got to be one of the coolest auditoriums in the country. Big velvety seats with plenty of legroom under a dreamspace canopy ceiling with magical deepset lights which recall to me the constellations over Lake Superior after sundown. It's like an ancient palace interior visioned by Gustav Klimt, Maxfield Parish or the French Surrealist poet Robert Desnos. Wonderful performances occur here regularly: Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartets, the entire cycle of them, when realized in this sanctum, drew enthusiastic followers from distant Russia alongside Americans who carne seeking a good dose of 20th Century chamber reality . I lay on the floor along the back wall for Quartet No.13.
Another time the Rackham Space was visited by "Old And New Dreams," a Jazz quartet comprised of Ornette Coleman's fellow searchers. I shall never forget the way the air felt in the presence of Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, Charlie Haden and Dewey Redman as they cast their spells upon us. Sometimes I still expect trumpeter Lester Bowie to come barreling out through the camouflaged proscenium stage door wearing his white lab coat as he did when he appeared with his Brass Fantasy ensemble. Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder read their poetry here. All of this still reverberates through the hall. At least I feel it there.
Hill Auditorium is another stunning site for live music. I saw a rock band called the Byrds there around 1970, and to this day I still gawk as I did then at the way the organ pipes reach up through the fathoms, a living breathing pneumatic presence inside this small canyon of a concert hall. Miles Davis, Chico Freeman, Johnny Griffin and Aretha Franklin played there. Arthur Blythe opened for Sarah Vaughan. Sun Ra appeared with his Myth-Science Research Arkestra. And Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. gave a speech during the Reagan years when we needed it most.
About every 20 years they get it together to perform Mahler' s 8th Symphony there. This involves several choirs and orchestras, with stage extensions jutting out everywhere to accommodate the extra ensembles and soloists. Lindsay and I were there for the most recent realization last year. It was transformational; I am consequently permanently rearranged. They even had players and singers stationed up in the balconies! Cosmic! Speaking of which:
Allen Ginsberg brought his beautiful sincerity to Hill Auditorium annually during the last few years of his life on behalf of the people of Tibet, (and as a gesture of Buddha nature in benevolent solidarity with the life work of the Dalai Lama), in the form of a series of benefit concerts for Jewel Heart, a Tibetan Buddhist organization which has its international headquarters right here in Ann Arbor.
Gelek Rinpoche, Allen' s friend and teacher, offers his insightful wisdom at the Jewel Heart Temple. Some of his teachings are available in little transcripts; my favorite is the one called "Compassion," especially the sections where he discusses the peculiarities of anger. Speaking as an American I must acknowledge my own struggles with pointless rage. Unlearning these pattems takes time and discipline. While I am not presently enrolled in any of the Jewel Heart classes, I must acknowledge the outstanding example being set by Gelek Rinpoche, as we all need to learn to conduct our lives on clearer, more ethically centered ground.
The Jewel Heart Store, an outgrowth of the temple, is well worth visiting; there's books and music, rugs and thankga paintings. There are statues of Tara, a wonderful goddess, who has many many aspects. I like to sit in the reading room, page through the volumes in the little Jewel Heart library, and say nothing whatsoever. There's a gifted deep tissue massage therapist who has a room in the back of the store. She helps me to breathe and untie the knots in my body. Once in the middle of a session I asked her "What is the antithesis of Buddha nature?" Her response, (and I know she would want me to honor Rinpoche for this), was one word: "Ignorance." How fortunate we are to have such people in our town. I try and make it to Hill Auditorium every year for the Allen Ginsberg Memorial and Jewel Heart Benefit Concert; I look forward to seeing and hearing Patti Smith and Philip Glass at Hill Auditorium on Friday, October 2nd, in support of Jewel Heart.
The Michigan Theatre has live music and often unusual movies--something special every day. Again half the fun is just entering and checking out the insides of the place. The lobby is wonderfully ornate and the big old fashioned organ down front sometimes gets revved up before film screenings. This is where they hold the internationally renowned 16mm Film Festival in the Spring of the year. In an age of home video and nasty little bifurcated mail cinemas, we are certainly lucky to have our Michigan Theatre.
Ann Arbor has a nest of great performance spots downtown; somebody else needs to write about the bars. As arecovering alcoholic I can't hang out in those places any more. The big exception for me is our Jazz club, the Bird of Paradise. Periodically this place gets visited by artists like Mose Allison and Betty Carter. Recently we caught legendary drummer Roy Haynes at the Bird with his quartet, and some of us are still screwing our heads back on, having absorbed his repercussions upclose. Friday evenings for happy hour there's the Easy Street Jazz Band. These guys play real old fashioned Traditional Jazz. They'll take it back to 1926 for ya. And you've got to visit this club on Monday nights for the Bird of Paradise Orchestra, the best big band in this part of the country, led by bassist Paul Keller.
The Ark started up as a Folk club many years ago, in a wood-frame house on Hill Street. Then they had this loft of a place on South Main. Today you'll find the Ark smack in the middle of downtown, in their best location ever. The music ranges from Folk and Blues to honest Jazz. There's no smoking in the immediate performing area, so this gives you the opportunity to actually breathe during the show.
Back to the land: this city's surrounded by fields of com and soybeans, by bogs and wetlands, and by large stretches of same which have been drained, razed and covered with incredibly ugly new housing. While there's still some natural turf left you should make time to enjoy it up close. Swans, herons, egrets, ducks and geese are still able to nest here and there, even as the deer population struggles to comprehend the difficulties of survival in such a rudely abbreviated habitat. Closer to campus are of course Nichols Arboretum and Gallup Park. These are nicely tended stretches of handsome hiking and sprawling space.
Advice: Support independent businesses; always try and think of them before you patronize the franchises. Otherwise the independents will go out of business. I'll write you again about this in the months to come.
Further advice: Females in this little metropolis should be aware of the high incidence of sexual assault in college communities. Cultivate a circle of female friends with whom you can move about, and be vigilant. There are services like Safewalk to help you get home safely at night. Generally speaking, women must stick together and look out for one another.
Well, that's my letter of welcome, and I wish you the very best of times as you pursue your higher education. I'm awfully proud of you and I look forward to hearing how you like it here.
--your uncle, arwulf arf