AADL Talks To: Sharon McRill, former Borders Employee and Owner of Betty Brigade

Fri, 03/29/2024 - 12:55pm

In this episode, AADL Talks To Sharon McRill. Back in the 1990s, Sharon spent several years with Borders. There she served as a new media liaison when DVDs and games on CD were new technologies, interviewed celebrities, and helped build the first Border’s website. After the first round of Border’s layoffs left her wondering what to do next, she decided to start her own business helping people clean and organize, move, and more. Sharon talks about the evolution of the Betty Brigade from its early years to the thriving business it is today.    

For more information about Borders, see our digital collections. 

AADL Talks to Jack Stubbs

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 4:53pm

In this candid interview, Jack Stubbs, veteran Ann Arbor News photographer (1968-1996), paints a colorful portrait of the life of a newspaper photographer during the pre-digital era of journalism. He discusses tricks of his trade and recalls the creative ways he got the shot. Jack talks about the work of his fellow "shooters" during this period, and about some of the other News photographers he admired, notably Eck Stanger. Stubbs' assignments ranged from city and college sports to crime scenes and weather disasters, and he covered most of Washtenaw County's major events of the era, including Ann Arbor's June 1968 flood; the marches and protests at the end of the 1960s; the Coed murders and trial of John Norman Collins.

AADL Talks To Veteran Ann Arbor News Reporter Bill Treml

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 1:00pm

Bill Treml spent forty years at the Ann Arbor News working the police beat--"chasing cops and robbers," as he puts it. In that time he saw and reported on many of the stories we remember: the Coed Murders of John Norman Collins, UFO sightings, a bank robbery in Ypsilanti that left one police officer dead. Much of what we remember we remember from what he wrote. We got a chance to talk to Bill about some of those stories and what kept him at it through all those years. Treml's self-effacing manner cannot hide the fact that he went places most of us have never gone and witnessed things most of us never want to see. He stood in mud in his pajamas at murder scenes. He chased down paddy wagons. He took a front row seat to riots. He sat across the table from one of the worst serial killers in Michigan's history. Treml shared his stories of years as a reporter and told us what it takes to be a great reporter in any age of news reporting.