AADL Talks To: Bill Zirinsky and Ruth Schekter of Crazy Wisdom

Mon, 04/03/2023 - 9:48am

In this episode of AADL Talks To, we interview Bill Zirinsky and Ruth Schekter. Bill and Ruth discuss their history running the Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and the Crazy Wisdom Journal. They also talk about their time in Ann Arbor, including some of the city’s changes over the years. They discuss their experience as a unique “new age” bookstore in a town known for its book shops.

AACHM Oral History Excerpt: Audrey Monagan

Fri, 02/17/2023 - 2:10pm

Audrey Monagan was born in Ann Arbor in 1941, and grew up in a close-knit, predominantly black neighborhood on North Fifth Ave. She remembers attending Bethel AME Church with her grandparents, spending time at the Dunbar Community Center, and helping raise her younger siblings. She attended Jones School and Pioneer High School before working for General Motors, where she was an inspector for eighteen years. Mrs. Monagan has been married to her second husband, Philip, for 48 years.

Linda Diane Feldt (and Aisling)

Fri, 02/10/2023 - 2:29pm

Video extra from the feature-length documentary Welcome to Commie High from 7 Cylinders Studio.

Arwulf Arwulf At WCBN

Fri, 02/10/2023 - 1:37pm

Video extra from the feature-length documentary Welcome to Commie High from 7 Cylinders Studio.

AACHM Oral History Excerpt: Don Simons

Tue, 02/07/2023 - 3:36pm

Donald L. Simons was born in 1943 and he grew up on Fuller Street in Ann Arbor. He attended Jones School, Ann Arbor High, and Eastern Michigan University. He was a starting football halfback and basketball co-captain in high school, and was recognized as athlete of the month. Mr. Simons recalls segregation and several incidents of discrimination in Ann Arbor. He is proud of his family, his work coaching at the Maxey Boys' Training School and Boysville, and co-hosting the annual neighborhood picnic for 25 years.

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JCC Conversations | Mark Braun

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 5:04pm

Learn about Mark’s adventures including putting the bike with the piano on a boat and towing it with the help of volunteer swimmers from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island.

Mr. B is a blues and boogie-woogie pianist who has become one of the premiere purveyors of a vanishing art. Having learned his craft first-hand from the early masters, he is a rare living link to the first generation of blues and boogie pianists.

Steeped in the rich legacy of this tremendously exciting music, Mr. B learned directly from blues and boogie legends like Little Brother Montgomery, Boogie Woogie Red, and Blind John Davis.

JCC Conversations | Rich Retyi, Author of The Book of Ann Arbor: An Extremely Serious History Book

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 2:35pm

The 41 stories in the book include a suicide submarine parade. Ann Arbor’s top 10 astronauts. Shakey Jake, The Embassy Hotel, and stories of trains crashing into buildings. The birth of Iggy Pop. Punching Nazis. The day the dictator came to town. The music mobile, the naked mile, and a brief history of poop. Rich and his book are truly fun!

JCC Conversations | Fred Upton, Debbie Dingell and Ryan Clancy

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 2:29pm

Ryan Clark of No Labels, and Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-12th CD) and Fred Upton (R-4th CD) of the Problem Solvers’ Caucus  discuss prospects for bipartisan legislation in Congress. Learn how goodwill still exists and how it can be effective with the support of No Labels, even in today’s polarized political climate.

JCC Conversations | Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 2:10pm

Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski  talks about  her resolution to create a bipartisan joint select committee to investigate Michiganders’ involvement in the Jan. 6 pro-Trump insurrection in the U.S. and also discusses the April 2020 storming of the Michigan Capitol during a protest against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 health orders, which congressional Democrats have argued was a “dress rehearsal” for Jan. 6.

JCC Conversations | Dr. Isaiah “Ike” McKinnon

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 2:03pm

Dr. Isaiah McKinnon, former police officer who became the chief of the Detroit Police Department and the deputy mayor of Detroit. He was one of the first African American officers in the Detroit police force and was almost killed by racist fellow police officers in an incident that was later covered internationally.