ann arbor...

...is like u of m's retarded test tube baby.

this is not an original quote. a friend said it in passing a few weeks ago and i can't stop thinking about it. aren't there more important things than a graffiti ordinance? what about u of m buying the pfizer campus? what about shaman drum possibly going out of business? yet that same block of state street can support like 5 corporate sandwich shops (no joke) a chipotle and an urban outfitters when right down the street or around the corner exists an american apparel and a btb? and students thinking that is main street. is the public school system really that good? i teach at community high and i think it has some things going for it, but as all education has major fault lines. is ann arbor really the place where you would want to raise a family? certainly, it has its ups as well as its downs and the people can be nice on occasion, but honestly, i could go on forever about all the things gone wrong, most of it the university's "fault" no? the goddamn new panara bread on the corner of n. thayer and n. university--all because of student life, right? that's what students want? jimmy johns and starbucks and barnes and noble and chain bars and 'fancy' restaurants all owned by the same goddamn company? i think i'm done with this town. chalk another one up to corrupt cities of the midwest. what would ann arbor be if the campus had stayed in detroit? what would detroit be if the campus had remained there? what a shit-rant, i don't even know what i'm talking about. maybe i'm just frustrated by what was originally so alluring: the integration of town and city, what i didn't realize then that i realize now is that it's not so much symbiotic as parasitic, that ann arbor not so much houses u of m's campus as u of m owns the town of ann arbor. and frankly, i feel bad for the city. it has so much going for it. and maybe it's just university towns in general, but i think u of m has it's head pretty far up its ass, i mean a good education? maybe. diversity? ha. liberalism? i don't think so. dream on, and hike the tuition again. oh, and buy out kerrytown and arborland and bird hills and anything else you can get your greasy, sleazy alumni money on while you are at it. GO BLUE.

**i'm not saying i'm not at fault with any of this. i give in too, it's so easy to live here. i admit that i've fallen into the sweet seductions of the university too, but...well, i'm ashamed of it, but at least i know what i've gotten into?