Clik here to view.
A big “thank you” to all those who died in the Chicago rail yards so that we...
I know it’s probably cheating, but here’s something that I posted over a decade ago on the occasion of Labor Day. If anything, I think it’s even more appropriate today, seeing as how Michigan has since...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trump nearly doubling his death toll estimate, continues to urge states to...
On Fox News yesterday, Donald Trump, after making the ridiculous case that he’s been “treated worse” than Abraham Lincoln, said that, in his opinion, it is now safe to re-open society. He then went on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Documenting Ypsilanti in the time of COVID-19
Back in 2017, I got the idea that we should designate a weekend to collectively documenting our lives in Ypsilanti. I called the initiative #DocumentYpsi, and the results were pretty awesome. In fact,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The story about my great, great grandfather nearly severing the leg of his...
Not too long ago, as you may recall, I shared a few family stories here that had been handed down by my great grandmother’s cousin, Mattie Belle Wise (1892-1992). Well, I’ve got another family story to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Untold History of Zines… Alex Hubbard and Dan M on “The Removal Technician”
About a year or so ago, when I was done interviewing Sean Tejaratchi, the man behind Crap Hound, for my History of Zines project, I asked him who else I should be talking with from Portland’s golden...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Finding my family’s version of “Little House in the Big Woods”
Quite often, I find myself thinking things like, “If not for this one thing having happened, I likely wouldn’t be where I am today.” I wonder, for instance, if my father hadn’t gotten into an accident...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My friend, Ned Cartledge, on the liberation of the Wöbbelin concentration camp
With everyone talking about the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, my mind went, as it often does when thinking about the Nazi extermination camps, to my friend, the Atlanta folk artist...
View ArticleA defiant Donald Trump, emboldened by his support within the Republican-led...
It’s over two hours long, but, if you haven’t made your way though it yet, I’d encourage you to watch or listen to all of Congressman Adam Schiff’s opening argument, delivered this afternoon at the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It looks as though my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Clark...
While I’m tempted to make the case that my family’s Wise line goes all the way back to Colonel John Wise (1617-1695), who is thought to have arrived in the Virginia Colony from England in 1635, I think...
View ArticleClik here to view.
One more post on my great grandparents, Curtis Florian and Minnie Wise Florian
A few days ago, I posted a little something here about the young lives of my great grandparents Curtis Florian (1892-1977) and Minnie Wise Florian (1892-1981), who were married at the age of 19 in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trying to piece together the young life of my great grandmother, Minnie...
The woman to the right is my great grandmother. Her name was Minnie Florence Wise, and she was born on December 9, 1892, in Montgomery County, Kentucky, which is about 30 miles east of Lexington,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Daniel Avery, the War of 1812, and the Illinois land bounty that brought my...
OK, as long as we’re talking about David Avery’s service during the Revolutionary War military under Colonel William Prescott, I should probably mention that he wasn’t the only one of my ancestors to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thankfully, Jean Henry’s ancestor did not get my ancestor killed at the...
On this site a few days ago, in a conversation about the misdeeds of our ancestors, Jean Henry mentioned that a relative of hers, Colonel Ephraim Doolittle of Shoreham, Vermont, was likely responsible...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Introducing my great, great, great grandfather, Joseph Phillip Florian
This, I’ve been told, is my great, great, great grandfather, Joseph Phillip Florian. From what I’ve been able to ascertain, he was born in Poland on November 22, 1831, and arrived at the Port of New...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Talking about Highland Cemetery’s Starkweather Chapel, and the history of...
The Starkweather Chapel in Ypsilanti’s Highland Cemetery, for those of you who may not have noticed, has been undergoing some much needed renovation work this past year. Here, with more on the history...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Happy Birthday to Q
I’ve just been informed that the mass delusion known as QAnon turned two today. It was apparently on this day back in 2017 that the following was posted to 4Chan, marking the beginning of what is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
THE TRUMP DOCTRINE: Appeasing Tyrants, Freeing terrorists and Endangering...
When Donald Trump announced last week that, at the request of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, he would be pulling back American troops stationed in Syria, everyone knew exactly what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Totally Quotable Arlo: Donkey Kong Edition
I was going to write a substantive post about Iran tonight, but I decided to read an old Vonnegut book instead. Here, because I feel as though I owe you something — even though I know that I don’t — is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A big “thank you” to all those who died in the Chicago rail yards so that we...
I know it’s probably cheating, but here’s something that I posted more than half a decade ago on the occasion of Labor Day. If anything, I think it’s even more appropriate today, seeing as how Michigan...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An online architectural tour of my earliest years in Frankfort, Kentucky
If you’re reading this in the future, and want to send a cyborg back in time in order to keep me from being born, so that I don’t destroy Skynet, or do whatever terrible and awesome thing it is that...
View Article/pic9814888.png)
/fit-in/580x348/filters:format(webp)/english-betterindia/media/media_files/2026/09/17/balaghat-3-2026-09-17-18-46-40.png)
