Category Archives: michigan

Jan26

naliqqaittuq.

Posted on January 26, 2023 by beth

snow day yesterday at last

a really good day to stay home from school

—

Inuit in Canada’s North have their own unique names for the months of the year. Aseena Mablick, an announcer for CBC Nunavut’s Inuktitut-language radio program Tausunni, has been collecting information on the names of the months in Inuktitut for years.

Mablick says one of the reasons she’s sharing this now is to “keep the language.”The names in Inuktitut are interconnected with the environment and wildlife surrounding the Inuit in Canada’s North.”It’s a truthful and honest calendar for people who are living over here, everyday, like us,” she says. “We just follow mother nature’s ways for naming the calendar.”

Each region in Nunavut has its own unique names for the calendar, and Mablick shared with us just two of the regions she’s looked into — Baffin region (also known as the Qikiqtaaluk Region) and Nunavik (northern Quebec).

January In Nunavik, January is “Naliqqaittuq”, literally meaning “nobody’s able to compete with it,” says Mablick. “It has to do with the coldest weather in that month.”

January is called “Qaummagiaq” in the Baffin region. It means “bright day coming back.”

meanwhile in ann arbor…

Continuing a six-decade tradition,

hundreds participated in a huge snowball fight

at the University of Michigan Diag,

embracing the Michigan snowstorm.

credits: cbc news (north), aseena mablick, deadline detroit

Oct30

go blue day.

Posted on October 30, 2022 by beth

Standard

a go blue day in michigan:

morning- governor whitmer and obama (blue state rally)

evening- university of michigan vs. michigan state rivalry football game (go blue!)

“on a good day everybody can beat everybody.”

-chris hughton

—

photo credit: michigan stadium, fox sports

Oct10

gichi-gami.

Posted on October 10, 2022 by beth

Standard

Ojibwe entering the gichi-gami

(artist unknown)

In honor of Indigenous Peoples Day

City of Ann Arbor Land Acknowledgment:

Equity and justice are at the center of our city’s critical principles. In that light, we’d like to take a moment to honor the geographic and historic space we share. We acknowledge that the land the City of Ann Arbor occupies is the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabeg – (including Odawa, Ojibwe and Boodewadomi) and Wyandot peoples. We further acknowledge that our City stands, like almost all property in the United States, on lands obtained, generally in unconscionable ways, from indigenous peoples. The taking of this land was formalized by the Treaty of Detroit in 1807. Knowing where we live, work, study, and recreate does not change the past, but a thorough understanding of the ongoing consequences of this past can empower us in our work to create a future that supports human flourishing and justice for all individuals.

Lake Michigan is named after the Ojibwe word “mishigami” which means “large water” or “large lake.”

Also known as Michigamme/”mishigamaa” meaning “great water“, also etymology for state of Michigan.

The Great Lakes were called “gichi-gami” (from Ojibwe gichi “big, large, great”; gami “water, lake, sea”).

—

“man belongs to the earth, the earth does not belong to man.”

-ojibwe saying

—

credits: project.geo.msu.ed, city of ann arbor, ann arbor public libraries

Sep10

perfect face.

Posted on September 10, 2022 by beth

Standard

full moon rising and floating

on grand traverse bay

“the moon was but a chin of gold a day or two ago,

and now she turns her perfect face upon the world below.”-

-emily dickinson

—

traverse bay, traverse city, michigan, usa

september 2022

Aug27

on the water.

Posted on August 27, 2022 by beth

Standard

beautiful and enlightening experience

kayaking through detroit’s canals

that i never knew existed

with detroit river sports

then paddling into the detroit river

bounded on either side by the united states and canada

learning history and tales of

bootlegging, river islands, mansions, auto barons, inventors, and boatmen

finishing with a lovely relaxed dinner

canal side

at coriander kitchen and farm

fresh farm to table fare

all in the heart of the city.

—

“if there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.”

-loren eiseley

Aug25

*rudolph.

Posted on August 25, 2022 by beth

Standard

a white-tailed deer startled shoppers

after it wandered in and strolled the aisles in a dollar general store

it seems even mother nature can’t resist low prices.

—

Shoppers were joined by an unexpected patron Friday when a female white-tailed deer wandered into the Dollar General store in Jackson, Michigan.

“I was shopping and I heard a commotion coming from the front of the store,” said Connie MacGuinness, a customer in the store at the time. “I heard people calling out ‘Oh no!” MacGuinness turned around to see the deer walking straight toward her down the aisle, she said. “I was stunned for a quick minute, then got out my phone.”

A report of the animal’s escapades reached the Jackson Police Department. Police and Fire Services Director Elmer Hitt said within a few minutes, officers from JPD and Jackson County Animal Control arrived to help lead the doe back out of the store. “It seemed as scared as we were, but it didn’t run around or seem upset,” MacGuinness said.

Another shopper told MacGuinness they saw the deer walk into the store through the open sliding door at the front of the building.The deer was in the building for about 20 minutes before police guided it outside an open door by barricading the aisles with boxes and carts.

*note: my personal theory is that rudolph had a lot of shopping to do,

hoped to beat the black friday crowd in november,

wanted to fly under the radar, and stock up on some good deals.

unfortunately rudolph is now such a celebrity

that it’s hard to be out in public

without being noticed and posted about on social media. – beth

—

“i’m like rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. if i’m not ready, the sled isn’t going to go.

-kevin garnett, nba championship player

—

credits: photo – connie macguinness, mitchell kukula, mlive.com, jackson police and fire