Leighton Rhymes with Satan ([info]leighton) wrote in [info]ann_arbor_ypsi,
@ 2005-08-15 11:45:00
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Current music:Stranglers - Who Wants The World

Ann Arbour is famous again
Though this excerpt is from a stupid car magazine, it's from a well-written magazine (PJ O'Rourke - Hunter S. Thompson) currently produced on Hogback Road. Apparently, they aren't as into Ann Arbour as you might expect...

Brock Yates in July's Car and Driver 50th anniversary edition:

"Pardon me for this heresy, but the launching pad for this magazine was not a better road test but rather the vitality of the written word as energized by operating in the world's center of literary and artistic creativity. And that was New York City, not Ann Arbor.
Yes, it's nice to cozy up to a pack of industry suits in nearby Detroit, but if one is looking for cultural testosterone and raging off-the-wall competition in the world of communications. Manhattan was - and is - home plate.
Better yet, I was able to walk to work."

Myopic locals and evil outsiders tend to disagree about why Ann Arbor is not as great as it thinks it is. But when transplants who have lived here since 1978 start in on the AA jabs, you know something is up.


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[info]louvain
2005-08-15 04:15 pm UTC (link)
we get it, we get it.

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[info]kyrthira
2005-08-15 04:19 pm UTC (link)
Ann Arbor is just NYC only smaller, and with one borough (it's called Ypsi).

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[info]leighton
2005-08-15 04:24 pm UTC (link)
I hope to live in the Flatbushish section, not Williamsburg III (overrun with transplanted, trust-fund Ann Arbor kids trying to act cool but handily missing the B train).

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(Anonymous)
2005-08-15 05:28 pm UTC (link)
Do trust-funds come with a maid AND a butler ?

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Heh.
(Anonymous)
2005-09-15 03:35 pm UTC (link)
Ypsi's got far too much attitude to be referred to as a "borough".

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Re: Heh.
[info]kyrthira
2005-09-15 06:18 pm UTC (link)
Tell that to Harlem. :P

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In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]emilytarot
2005-08-15 04:26 pm UTC (link)
Well, Manhatten! Of course! Shit, why aren't *I* in Manhatten, with all that cultural testosterone and raging off the wall competition in the world of communications?

Oh! Wait! I always forget. No Sponsor! ^^

Hmmmmm, and why aren't THEY in Manhatten anymore if they hate it soooo much here, and not wallowing in that stew of angry hormones, walking to work, spending all their money on rent?

(I'm not saying you're slamming Ann Arbor... just a defense I've had brewing for a while of this "Arrogant Ann Arbor" grumbling and bitching that has become so common.^^)
Ann Arbor, it is not a perfect place. But, at my age, there's nowhere else in this state I'd rather be. Now, I plan on getting OUT of this state. >grin< But for all its myriad inperfections, life is pretty damn good. While Ann Arbor sure as hell ain't in the same League as San Francisco, I also hear similar complaints about it, "Ohhhh, they're SO self-impressed there, in their expensive little dreamland, when it's not SO not all that. They think their lifestyle is Just SO great when it's a gentrified, over-priced, overrated arrogant shithole!" Or some such. But people are HAPPY in San Francisco, they flock there.

Pehaps people are happy here, and that makes people sorta complacent and smug, and that just pisses other people off? *ponders* I've always tried to figure out why people are so pissy about Ann Arbor. Of course, it's truly no New York, San Francisco, Seattle, etc and so forth... but what say you want a small little college town with some great urban-lite features but not the insanity and dirtyness of the big city? I'd say it's a place to consider!

*Complacently eats a popsicle and patters off to the People's Food Co-op*

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]leighton
2005-08-15 04:39 pm UTC (link)
Some of the current editors were sent off to AA against their will..., many left. Some stayed, and some started their own AA-based car magazine (although it's dim shadow of C&D's style and writing tradition).

Of course, much of the background noise about AA is rehashed daily on AAiO. When comparing Big Apples to oranges, yes, AA completely blows, all agree. The AA area is arguably the best place to live in our particular state - if you can afford it and can't leave Michigan. But it is a rare bird who can recommend AA after living in similar (subjectively better) places like Austin, Madison, Berkley, Ithaca...etc.

Complacency can breed ignorance of something better, much better

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]physics_queen
2005-08-15 04:46 pm UTC (link)
I just moved to AA from Madison, and I like them both. Madison was nice, yes, but it's awesome not to have to drive for 20 minutes to have to get to the nearest non-sucky grocery store. The rent here is cheaper/sq. foot than Madison. (We gained 400 sq. feet moving here, and are paying less - not to mention the free parking here...) I'm not saying I'd take A2 over Madison any day - but it's a nice place to be...

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]leighton
2005-08-15 04:49 pm UTC (link)
If AA could get a non-sucky grocery store in walking distance (and relocate Chicago closer), it might subjectively be better than Madison.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
(Anonymous)
2005-08-15 10:10 pm UTC (link)
We usually just send the butler to do the grocery shopping.
_LMS

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]emilytarot
2005-08-15 05:23 pm UTC (link)
He. See, Ann Arbor is Overrated always amused me because it's got the tone of people who 1. Live to Loathe(I love the "we might start a sister site, Hyde Park is Overrated", it says it all! Bless 'em, they're bitingly funny.) and it is a wonderful, fun hobby that soothes their cynical hipster souls, and 2. Have a good bit of affection for what they loathe. All truly great critics do.

I would say, with the high amount of cosmopolitanism in Ann Arbor - and there is, because of the University - that ignorance of better places isn't the problem around here. People are here because of jobs, family, etc.

It's just funny why some people can't just get over the fact that, GASP!, some people actually LIKE it here, have a good life, and that the whole hilarious "it's not as good as _____ college town which is SO much better, OMG how can you like it" is ... pointless, it's not a big competition for the best towns ever and if you're not in the top 10 then liking it there and think it's a great place makes you a delusional fool. Perhaps it's not up to your standards, more power to you, Then MOVE. Or, sit around and continue bitching, I can respect that. ^^

But why do so many people need to demonize phrases such "Ann Arbor is a good town to live in", "Ann Arbor is great", "I'm glad I'm here!" Into meaning "Ann Arbor is the best and all the other places like it in the country AREN'T AS GOOD!"

That's not usually how it's expressed. ^^ Just, I have not lived in the above cities. I have heard good and bad things about all of them. I suspect you will find a sister "Austin is overrated" etc. type group.

Of course there's much, much better, but I don't see anyone setting up a "Travel to your personal utopia!" travel fund for me anytime soon, which mean it's job dependent. I have a job here, life is good. Ann Arbor rocks! Perhaps other places rock better, of course. *shrugs* But I am happy rocking here for now. Many people are, and, for some strange reason, continue to be and love the life.

Us delusional fools. *shakes head* What can ya' do? ^^

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]leighton
2005-08-15 07:27 pm UTC (link)
I think the most telling thing about AA's self-opinion is the perennial bumper sticker, "I'd Rather Be in Ann Arbor". Picking apart the masterful combination if ignorance and arrogance in that popular statement you get a glimpse into the psyche of the town.

Every place has its perfect match residents, and that is great. They also have some Kool Ade drinkers. I'm happy for both. But I moved away just the same.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]emilytarot
2005-08-15 08:21 pm UTC (link)
You're reading far too much into that bumper sticker, methinks... I think it's meant on the local scale, not the universal, for I am from Michigan, and I choose to live in Ann Arbor because it is my favorite town to live in statewise.

Would I rather live in, say, London, San Francisco, Chicago? Why, yes, yes I would! The latter choice may even come true very shortly. But, if I'm in this area, I'm stayin' in A2.

But, in any case, I got an answer to what I was inwardly querying... if you really did have an overwhelmingly condescending contempt for those who choose to live in Ann Arbor and like it. Obviously, you do.

Thank god you moved away! ^^ But why are you still lurking on Ann Arbor_Ypsi communities if you both 1. Are no longer in Ann Arbor_Ypsi and 2. Despise it so completely?

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]leighton
2005-08-15 09:27 pm UTC (link)
Actually, I still live in one of the towns in the community's LJ name (moved from one to the other after experiencing one too many crimes and neighbors who demanded we keep our canines on strict vegan diets). I hate neither town nor think either town is the greatest in the world. It's jingoism that I hate.
I often saw the offending bumper sticker growing up in Central Florida (a popular AA ex-patriot location for some horrid reason). Compared to almost any town in Florida, Ann Arbor is Shangri-La.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]crankyasanoldma
2005-08-16 01:35 pm UTC (link)
I think you're right (both posts). I don't why it is evidence of "arrogance" or some kind of mental midgetry to develop some affection for one's current residence.

In college, I saw a few people have the same sort of reaction to Texans. I went to college with a lot of Texans, and some people found their pride off-putting. The "Don't Mess With Texas" bumper stickers, the gatherings they'd have, they way they'd buddy up as soon as they found someone else from Dallas, all that. But I think most people saw it for what it was--having some pride in where you're from or where you live. Nothing more pyschologically meaningful than that. (Okay, I've met some Texans who were a scoch too "into" Texas, but hey, they weren't everyone).

I confess I think there is a lot of pageantry to the "overrated" thing. People get invested in hating something, it's good entertainment and diverting. It's even better when you can draw fabulous stories about the why that disgust is justified. You cannot ask me to believe that our friend below honestly--I mean honestly had neighbors "forcing" him to feed his dog a vegan diet. I've heard of the vegetarian pet movement and it fits that there would be Ann Arbor practitioners, but forcing other people to do the same? And this problem is so prevalant that one has to move completely out of town to get away from it? Yeah. Hyperbole, anyone? That kind of story is a dramatic, apocryphal illustration of what's "wrong" with Ann Arbor.

Some of this stuff is so fantastical, I think we're having our chains yanked. There are probably "AAiO" contributors who live on the Old West Side and have their houses on the annual home tour. LOL

Luckily, even among the people with legitimate gripes about Ann Arbor, it appears that there is a contingent of people who are willing to put just as much energy into positive efforts to enhance neighboring communities, like Dexter and Ypsilanti and others, as they are into negative efforts like "AA-Hating." It's good to see a balance.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]emilytarot
2005-08-16 01:41 pm UTC (link)
'Tis True, balance is the best! ^^

And my Devil's Advocating aside, I am rather sad over the march of gentrification, I am, and it's a very legitimate gripe that Ann Arbor can wear a liberal coat while being not very liberal in action at all.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]leighton
2005-08-16 02:32 pm UTC (link)
Ironically, we moved here from Texas and thought the local jingoism could get no worse than that found in Austin...until we moved to AA. The blind pride levels were about the same, but AA had fewer reasons to be boastful (even fewer now). On a positive note / foil, one good example of a college town not filled with overt boosterism is Athens, GA (and Athens, OH come to think of it). Austin even has its internal revolution going on right now with the "Keep Austin Wierd" campaign - not funded by former Dellionaires.

Believe me, the vegan pet fascists were real. A woman literally stole one of our cats and told us, after moving away with him, that it was for "his own health". This was in a pseudo Co Op community (naming it would paint a horrid picture of an otherwise decent, if overpriced place). This was not the reason we moved to Ypsi, but it didn't help.

Maybe there are so many "haters" out there because AA's such devolved, obvious target. Positive things are happening in surrounding towns, though very very slowly (some of you may assign blame to me), but AA is just morphing further and further into a white white stripmall attached to 94. A collection of Outbacks and Starbucks that happens to have a college in it is not my idea of - a shadow of its former, dirtier, revolutionary past.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]funpuff
2005-08-15 05:44 pm UTC (link)
Ithaca?! Good lord, it's two blocks of university perched on a hill hours and hours from civilization. Might as well be in Antarctica.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
(Anonymous)
2005-08-15 07:33 pm UTC (link)
Some say the same about AA on a larger scale, but that could be a plus. Yet Ithaca is less self-depricating than Austin right now...

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]crankyasanoldma
2005-08-15 06:57 pm UTC (link)
That's why I don't get the significance of this "transplanted" person bitching about Ann Arbor. As you just said, "all agree:" most people would pick New York over Ann Arbor.

So why is it A Headline Making Moment when a former New Yorker gripes about having to leave New York for Ann Arbor?

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]leighton
2005-08-15 07:32 pm UTC (link)
Teh significance is the duration of the transplantation (since 1978) and the constant local equation of Ann Arbor as the "little Manhattan" of the Midwest being blown apart by such an authority.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]crankyasanoldma
2005-08-15 07:43 pm UTC (link)
"Little Manhattan?" Snort. Hadn't heard that one before.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]leighton
2005-08-15 09:18 pm UTC (link)
Usually the terms "diversity" and Zingerman's are mentioned in the same breath. Kinda makes sense.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]crankyasanoldma
2005-08-16 01:16 pm UTC (link)
You gotta start hangin' with a better class of people, my man. I've *never* heard anyone say anything so overblown and ridiculous about Ann Arbor. Spare yourself the aggravation and stop seeking out people who are so high on this town. Normal people abound.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]leighton
2005-08-16 01:19 pm UTC (link)
Believe me, these are clients - not friends. Townies and newbies.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]crankyasanoldma
2005-08-16 01:36 pm UTC (link)
Yikes. Sorry about that. I forget sometimes that not everyone has a job where they can essentially stay in a cave and avoid nearly everyone except those they choose to see.

*pats cave walls* I love my job.

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Re: In Defense of good ol' A2!
[info]leighton
2005-08-16 02:11 pm UTC (link)
Luckily, I'll be leaving that job in a few weeks to make more money and sanity, away from such people.

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ba-zing
[info]mean_salley
2005-08-15 08:29 pm UTC (link)
I have no qualms with this statement whatsoever for this very reason;

Ann Arbor proves it's vaunted rich diversty through all of the rich white people showing equal scorn and hatred to ALL individuals who don't meet the conservative status quo.

Open minded college town? Heh. The closer I get to campus the more threats I get from random passers by.

I've seen conservative baptists from Texas who are more "left" than this place.

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Re: ba-zing
[info]technolope
2005-08-18 02:14 am UTC (link)
Dude, I've gotta know what you are doing to elicit threats while moving (walking, driving?) through town. I've lived in AA for 10 years (and now I'm in Boston---some pluses, many minuses) and only remember one threat...and that was just left on my car.

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