I Can’t Believe He Said That
May 6, 2011
Can’t Believe He Said That, photo from the Dusty Diary
Over on the Dusty Diary, Laura writes that she would pay good money to know what the remark was is this unknown portrait.
At first I thought this was a wedding portrait. Now I think this is a family. All the guys, with the possible exception of the guy on the left, share a facial resemblance. There is a familial informality in the manner in which two of the men are grasping the chair backs. I’m guessing the person who made the remark in question is the tall guy in the center. Also suspecting that remark in question was a bit naughty. Woman on left is married… to whom? One of these gentlemen?
Also, older woman’s face is probably the single most beautiful thing I’ve seen this past week.
Click through to see the photo bigger and some details shots of their faces and definitely tune into the Dusty Diary for regular gems that Laura finds in the Yspilanti archives!
I love Michigan in Pictures
February 21, 2009
Holga_04_15.jpg, photo by Andy Tanguay
I think that Michigan in Pictures is the best web site that I have ever been involved with. Then again, my response to “You’ve won a trip to Milan!” would probably be “Milan, Michigan?”
One of the happiest parts of my life is that I get to spend some time every day looking at photos about Michigan from some amazing photographers and then learning about the subjects of the photographs and often times the people behind the lens. I’m very grateful for all that the photographers and readers contribute to make Michigan in Pictures what it is. Thanks!
The random background of the day on my computer is this photo from Andy’s Hardcore 313 set. This picture is of an abandoned train station station in Ypsilanti. It might be the same Ypsilanti train station where Presidents Ulysses S. Grant & Martin Van Buren delivered speeches and where Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, was thrown off the train when the conductor found out he didn’t have a ticket.
Then again, it might be just an abandoned train station. You can view it bigger on white, or in Andy’s photostream.
Edit: Almost forgot! I did this post about Michigan in Pictures so I could link to it from the new Absolute Michigan group on Facebook.
Creating Cities in Michigan
October 4, 2008
Lansing, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Traverse City, Marquette and Kalamazoo are by no means all of Michigan’s cities (or even the largest). Each, however, seems to be an anchor for its region – a center to which people look to for culture, entertainment and commerce.
October 13-15, 2008, lovers of cities large & small from Michigan and all over the country will head to Detroit for the Creative Cities Summit 2.0 (CCS2), an exploration of what our cities could become and how we can work to make them. Organizers have chosen Detroit, a city so deeply forged in America’s industrial fires that it’s been devastated by the flickering of that flame. I’m headed down there and will try to bring some of the ideas back to you through Absolute Michigan – I hope that some of you can join me there.
The Photos (left to right)
- Downtown View – Lansing, Michigan by Mario.Q
- Motor Within a City by SNWEB.ORG Photography, LLC.
- Partly Cloudy by GR58
- Old Flint (HDR) by Hemicuda82
- Traverse City, Michigan by farlane
- View from Mt. Marquette by fastbird232
- The Kalamazoo Radisson by bill.d
Creative Cities Summit 2.0 in Detroit on Oct. 13-15, 2008
CCS2 will present a dynamic and engaging conversation about how communities around the world are integrating innovation, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, arts & culture and business to create vibrant economies. Full conference registration is $300 for the two and half day event, and there’s also a “no frills” registration that is only $100. There’s also a free “Unconference” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) on the 12th for designers, urban planners, civic leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, students, community leaders to explore and discuss what’s possible for Detroit.
Keynote speakers include:
- Bill Strickland, MCG-Bidwell Corp.
- Richard Florida, Author Who’s Your City
- Charles Landry, Author The Art of City Making
- John Howkins, Author The Creative Economy
- Dean Kamen, Inventor, DEKA
- Majora Carter, Sustainable South Bronx
- Doug Farr, Architect and Author Sustainable Urbanism
- Ben Hecht, Pres. & CEO Living Cities
- Tom Wujec, Fellow, Autodesk
- Carol Coletta, CEOs for Cities
- Giorgio Di Cicco, Poet Laureate, City of Toronto and Author, The Municipal Mind
- Diana Lind, Editor, Next American City magazine
Breakout sessions on topics such as:
- Race and the Creative City
- Cities, Universities & Talent
- Marketing, Media and the Creative City
- Measuring New Things – ROI in the Creative Economy
- Creative (Small) Cities
- New Ideas in Urban Amenities
- Community Vitality: The Role of Artists, Gays, Lesbians & Immigrants
- Midwest Mega-region: How the Midwest Can Compete
- Transportation Innovation for Cities
- Making the Scene: Music & Economic Development
Much (much) more at creativecitiessummit.com.
Convocation Center, photo courtesy Eastern Michigan University
From Wikipedia’s Eastern Michigan University entry I learned that the school was founded in Ypsilanti in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the first normal school created outside the original 13 colonies. It became the Michigan State Normal College in 1899, Eastern Michigan College in 1956 and ultimately Eastern Michigan University in 1959. In 1991, the school become one of the first to abandon a Native American mascot (the Hurons) for the current name of Eagles. In 1991, when EMU qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history, announcer Brent Musburger referred to the team on-air as the “No-Names” and there is apparently still a campaign to restore the Huron. EMU is in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and:
Eastern’s men’s basketball team has appeared in four NCAA Division I tournaments, and have a 3-4 record, tied for third best among Michigan colleges. In the 1996 Men’s Basketball Tournament, Eastern Michigan defeated the Duke Blue Devils in the opening round; it would be the Blue Devils’ last first- or second-round defeat until 2007, when they were upended by VCU in the opening round.
EMU plays their games at Convocation Center, a nearly 205,000 sq ft structure that was completed in 1998. Here’s a photo of the arena dressed up for convocation. They don’t list what programs use the facility, but here’s a link to their women’s basketball (2008 MAC champions) and men’s basketball programs. Basketball Reference lists a number of notable EMU grads in the NBA including Earl Boynkins.
Michigan Orchard in Snow
June 27, 2007
Michigan Orchard in Snow, photo by coonjamm.
Today’s photo of a cherry orchard near near Paw Paw from February will hopefully remind those of us tempted to complain about the heat of other things we could complain about.
I’d also like to call attention to Van Buren County, Michigan our latest Michigan shoreline county article on Absolute Michigan.
Six Degrees from the Ypsilanti Farm Bureau
April 25, 2007
ypsi5.jpg, photo by mfophotos.
From the “It’s a small world but I wouldn’t want to paint it” department…
maproomsystems says:
So we’re walking along, and I see some dude taking a picture, and then I see it’s a polaroid, and so I say to my wife, “You know, I’d bet anything that that’s one of those krappy kamera people. When I get home, I’m going to do a flickr keyword search for Ypsilanti and I’ll bet that photo he’s taking will be posted.”
And lo and behold, I was right.
This photo is part of Mark’s set of cool Polaroids, which includes another angle of the Ypsilanti Farm Bureau Grain & Feed towers.
On the subject of interconnectedness, check out what Kevin Bacon has to say about the concept of six degrees at sixdegrees.org.
Peninsular Paper Co.
November 9, 2006
Across the Tracks with Krappy Kameras
September 1, 2006
Across the Tracks, photo by anikarenina.
The Krappy Kamera Club has the goal of bringing together people with the love of Krappy Kameras in the greater Ann Arbor, Michigan area. Holga, Diana, Brownie – these are a few of their favorite things.
On a related note, KKC member and newspaper photographer Bill Bresler will present Plastic Fantastic: Toy Camera Photography in the Digital Age on Sunday October 22, 2006 at 2 PM at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing.
