It’s Labor Day, the traditional, not technical, end of summer. I feel like I should write something, but I already wrote a column today (not about Labor Day) and am feeling a little played out. So I went through my photos, and decided it wasn’t a bad season, not at all. Here’s a selection of these warm summer days, Memorial to Labor. I hope your season was as picturesque.
It started with a horse show, something I haven’t been to in ages. I was only a spectator, but it was interesting to see how they’re doing things these days. (Spoiler: All that’s really changed are the helmets. And everything is way more expensive, not that it was ever cheap.) This is a guy I used to take boxing classes with, riding in the schooling jumpers class:
Flashback to my June driveway dinner party. Lots of work, but lots of reward:
Outdoor Friday-night spritzes with Dustin at a new spot in Detroit. Typical post-industrial setting, typical curated wall art:
In early July, I went with my colleague Violet to what was billed as “the first political speech” by James Craig, who retired as chief of the Detroit P.D. to run for governor (although he hasn’t announced yet). Here he is demonstrating his support for the second amendment:
The story of the summer was the rain. Torrents of it, storm after storm, causing much misery and the usual idiot chin-scratching about what, huh, what could be causing these sorts of unprecedented rain events. This happened at least half a dozen times in two months or so:
This was the encore of Shadow Show’s first post-pandemic show. They ran offstage, quickly changed into (p)leather and came back to cover “Sharivari,” considered the first Detroit techno record, with a guest guitarist. A really fun time, and a great one for a bassist to show off:
Of course there was some sailing:
Wildfires out west, red sunrises here:
A late graduation party, poolside:
On to August, and a primary election. I worked it again. Criminally low turnout, but we left no ballot behind:
A rooftop Friday cocktail hour, and we lit the shabbos candles for Danny Fenster, now imprisoned in Myanmar for more than 100 days. If you know anyone on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a letter of support would be appreciated:
A pop-up show by Griz, an EDM artist who was launching his new cannabis brand. People who don’t live in states with legal weed are often amazed by how, shall we say, robust the market is here. Still, this was too many people too close together, and hardly anyone was masked. (It was brutally hot.) I got a Covid test five days later, just to be safe. (Negative.)
And finally we get to Labor Day weekend. The girls had a show at the Hamtramck festival, and I wandered off down Joseph Campau Street to get away from the crowd. Hamtramck was for years primarily a Polish community, and still is, in large part, although it’s now more diverse than the United Nations. This pocket park was built to honor Pope John Paul II:
May the Pope, wherever he is now, watch over our autumn, as we head into it.
Deborah said on September 6, 2021 at 6:05 pm
Nice photo synopsis of your summer, Nancy.
LB and I have started a last minute yard project at the condo building. It was actually planned a couple of years ago but we put it off because of other things that seemed more of a priority because of unforeseen changes like neighbor’s cutting trees and greenery down around us that exposed us to views in and unpleasant views out. This project involves a lot of heavy lifting and stooping so we’re taking it slowly so we don’t wreck our backs and other parts of our anatomy in the process. We have some hot days ahead of us too so we’re working only in the mornings and early evenings when it’s cooler and less direct sun. At least it’s not humid.
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Jeff Borden said on September 6, 2021 at 6:34 pm
I’m deeply saddened to see that Michael K. Williams, the mesmerizing Omar Littles in “The Wire,” was found dead in his NYC apartment. The NY Post reports it’s a suspected heroin overdose.
Goddam addiction. So hard to overcome. His costar, Wendell Pierce has a nice string on Twitter about his friend.
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Sherri said on September 6, 2021 at 6:46 pm
Goddamn addiction, indeed, Jeff.
The pandemic has opened the way for the county to buy some hotels that haven’t survived to use to house the unhoused, but of course, the people who want *something to be done about all the homeless* don’t want the homeless to be housed anywhere near them, because DRUGS!!!11!!!, because everybody knows the homeless are drug addicts and addicts don’t deserve a place to live unless they are sober. Because our children!
Sorry, I’m just pissed off because the people protesting a hotel purchase for housing in Redmond outed the fact that the mayor’s oldest daughter went to rehab in one of the fliers they’ve been dropping.
I’m tired of people who wanted icky people to disappear from their sight.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 6, 2021 at 7:10 pm
Nice sequence, calming even. Had a lovely if damp day yesterday back in Athens, Ohio, as my son formally joined (as he officially had 15 months ago) all the Ohio University alumni who frequent this site. I had one last Court Street Coffee as we olds sat waiting in the rain on College Green, where they apparently held commencements until 1967, with the audio engineer playing “Miles Davis Radio” on Pandora. It was a wonderful mix and I commend it to anyone looking for background music.
Got home to learn the high school marching band my son is now assistant for had enough COVID cases over the weekend that they’re now benched for ten days and will not practice this week nor go to Bexley on Friday . . . but we still can’t have a mask mandate in the county schools!
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LAMary said on September 6, 2021 at 7:24 pm
Lots of noise here about housing the unhoused too.Project Room Key is using motels and hotels all over the state. They’ve got 24 hour monitors, counselors, security. Not good enough for some locals. They want peh to just disappear. No more motels, tiny houses, trailers. Just haul them out to the desert and let figure it out.
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Alan Stamm said on September 6, 2021 at 7:38 pm
Thanks, Jeff, for that arrow to @WendellPierce.
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Deborah said on September 6, 2021 at 8:41 pm
That Wendell Pierce Twitter thread is fantastic and heartbreaking, here’s a link https://twitter.com/WendellPierce/status/1434986053539176456 and watch the You Tube link he refers to. Omar was definitely our favorite character on The Wire. Now I feel like I want to watch the series again. Riveting TV.
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Jeff Borden said on September 6, 2021 at 9:20 pm
He was the kind of incandescent talent that defies you to look away. He was breathtaking. We loved him all the more for the savage scar he received in a bar fight.
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Dexter Friend said on September 7, 2021 at 12:44 am
My grandson who OD’d 15 times and lived to age 30 and is now living with me, working long hours in freezing conditions in a warehouse and is involved in parenting classes and drug court, seems to have turned the corner. He has stayed here before, several times. Yesterday he found a cooking spoon he had hidden before his last OD, which occurred right in our driveway. He trashed it. He visited his Toledo grandma, she had found a bag of clothing he had left there a few years ago, and he found a dose of fentanyl in a pocket. He disposed of that too. If he pees bad, he goes back to jail, likely for 10 days. He did 3 days a few months ago when he was found to have THC in his blood from over the counter CBD. So Michael Williams got a hot shot accidentally or offed himself, maybe we’ll never know. That man had talent. Omar come! Omar comin! Chalkie White was a great role, too. Boardwalk Empire.
Craig looks very Malcolm X-ee.
Labor Day. A big day for me for years. Now, just remembrances. When I turned 65 I stopped receiving any communications from the UAW; no bulletins, no voting preference literature, and no Solidarity magazine. Like I had died. Also, after I retired, never again a pension increase, never again a COLA jump, and our health care was just trashed. Yeah, OK, I was lucky, as then I joined the Veterans Administration system and am being treated OK there and my meds are paid for. But man, after age 65, the UAW just abandons their retirees, if I am an example. So Labor Day for me is just another day of recollection, of what the oldtimers did way back in the days of head-bashing and strikes.
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JodiP said on September 7, 2021 at 9:07 am
I enjoyed the photo montage! I am glad Kate and the band were able to play gigs again.
We saw Trombone Shorty and New Orleans Avenue outdoors on Sunday. They put on a SHOW!
There is a state-wide, 3-day social work supervisor conference happening in person next week. I don’t know why I even registered, but it finally dawned on me that I shouldn’t go near it. Just cancelled.
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Suzanne said on September 7, 2021 at 9:10 am
I have a nephew who has had drug problems. He’s been in jail and rehab multiple times but always goes back. He’s out now with a job but has twin toddlers from a relationship that he can’t sustain. For a time, both he and the kids’ mom were in jail. He ends up every so often back at my brother’s house, my brother right wing gun nut, which scares me.
I see that my nephew has dug himself into such a hole, he’ll have a rough road to get out which makes me realize if I was in his shoes, I’d probably look at the road ahead, realize how hard it is, and keep using.
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basset said on September 7, 2021 at 10:11 am
Both my brothers died from drugs so I’m watching this thread with particular interest.
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Deborah said on September 7, 2021 at 10:49 am
LB has a sore throat and a slight cough. We administered a home Covid test and man was that confusing. I had to download an app onto my phone, then connect it via Bluetooth to the analyzer in the test package, I had to then put some test processing fluid into a Dropper. Then LB swabbed her nostrils, then tightly inserted the swab into the dropper with the fluid in it, and then dropped 5 drops of the processing fluid into something called a sample port on the analyzer. Then wait 15 mins which my connected phone kept track of. Then “negative” popped up on my screen, whew, thank god. It took me about 20 mins of fiddling around on my phone just to download the app, but it was very clear once we watched the intro video on the app but it was not at all what I was expecting to have set up. The outside of the box didn’t explain how complicated it was of course and it cost $40 at CVS. We’re pretty sure her sore throat is a result of post nasal drip from allergies. She’s drinking tea right now, and will be spending the day resting.
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Julie Robinson said on September 7, 2021 at 12:39 pm
What a nice photo montage, Nancy. You pulled together a summer out of the ashes of Covid.
Our summer was all about moving and the construction project, and didn’t include much fun. This weekend we were able to put work on pause and celebrate our daughter’s birthday and new jobs for our son and his girlfriend. Daughter wanted a 20 foot blow up screen as her gift, which she used to show a movie to a wide group of friends. We enjoyed a bottle of champagne together, also toasting the one year anniversary of D retiring. Yesterday we visited the botanical garden and had a picnic, albeit indoors after the heat of the morning. It was good to relax.
Deborah and LB, those allergies may have been kicked up by the work you’ve been doing. Mine have been fierce ever since the move, and a dry sore throat is a constant companion. It’s the dang animals.
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Bella said on September 7, 2021 at 12:59 pm
Marc Maron posted a repeat of his interview with Michael K. Williams interview from February. Worth the listen and now very sad.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast/id329875043
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Jim said on September 7, 2021 at 1:23 pm
JodiP at #10: saw them at the Sweetwater Pavilion in Fort Wayne pre-pandemic, and they were great! And, Tower of Power will be here soon. Can’t wait!
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 7, 2021 at 4:12 pm
Nancy, does the shipboard flag indicate you and Alan only acknowledge Admiralty law? And does that extend to your home or just in the water? (Wait, no, isn’t that the gold fringed flags? I have trouble keeping my conspiracy markers straight.)
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brian stouder said on September 7, 2021 at 4:45 pm
Marvelous, marvelous photos; definitely captures the summer! Most interesting place we ran off to this year was Vicksburg/New Orleans, while adhering to wearing our masks. This summer zipped right past, for the most part
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brian stouder said on September 7, 2021 at 5:01 pm
Forgot to add – Nice gams, too!
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Jeff Borden said on September 7, 2021 at 5:33 pm
Fans of Michael K. Williams will appreciate this take from New York magazine.
https://www.vulture.com/article/michael-kenneth-williams-remembered-obituary.html#_ga=2.231080477.36282892.1631022173-1586366784.1619814874
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Suzanne said on September 7, 2021 at 8:24 pm
A friend of mine is an occupational therapist. One of her clients told her today that she hadn’t gotten the vaccine because it is the mark of the Beast as foretold in the Book of Revelations. So, if she got it, when she died, God wouldn’t allow her into heaven.
Sigh.
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