( a zine about the state of michigan )

foReWoRD bY Jacob KenDzeL Driving down dusty, deserted country roads, the scent of fresh cut grass and cow manure wafting through the windows. channel 7’s Jerry hodak telling drunken bill bonds that a winter storm is on its way, and the accompanying joy you feel when you realize that a day of snow fort building and no school are the only things on your agenda. tigers opening day; your psyched baseball is back, but most importantly winters over. until it starts snowing during the seventh inning stretch. buy me some peanuts and cracker Jack… and while you’re at it, some handwarmers and long johns. orange construction barrels every summer, hockey at “the Joe” every winter. coney Dogs and better mades, with some faygo to wash it down. homeless dudes missing limbs trying to sell you acid outside st. andrews hall. these are the midwest ideals and experiences that i hold dear, and these are things and events that make up who i am. not the values that the talking head, 24 hour news cycle pundits associate with where i live. sure, there are the small town, small mind, confederate flag sporting, gun rights, pro- life zealots. the people that claim health care for everyone is unconstitutional, that marriage is exclusive to a man and a woman. this isn’t the midwest, and specifically michigan, that i know and love. it’s a blue collar, rust belt sense of realness that makes me proud of where i live. its wedding receptions at u.a.W. halls, with kegs and the bride’s union uncle bartending. it’s the punk kid shooting pool in the back of the eight ball with a black guy wearing a three piece suit. its childhood friendships forged during epic summer dunk contests on 6 foot rims. it seems a factory is closing down every day, and the unemployment line rivals those at cedar Point on a summer saturday. times are tough for a lot of people. they have been here in michigan far before the rest of the country started to feel any effects of the recession. Yet the good far exceeds the bad. that good is why i rep the midwest hard, and love the place that made me who i am.

m o t o Rc i t Y a D

n e s s

m R s

the fab fivethe starters on the university of michigan men’s basketball team that reached the ncaa championship game as freshmen in 1992 and again as sophomores in 1993. a scandal forced the university to forfeit many of their achievements.

from left to right:

RaY JacKson, chRis WebbeR, JuWan hoWaRD, JaLen Rose, JimmY King

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L i o n s+

t i g e R s+

o h m Y

DeaR meiJeR,

PLease change YouR Logo bacK. You aRe not WaLmaRt noR shouLD You Want to be. theY aRe sKetchY. besiDes, in michigan, We aLL KnoW You aRe the og aLL-in-one shoPPing Destination. sticK to YouR Roots!

thanK You foR YouR time,

P.s.- foR What it’s WoRth...mY fiRst Job, at the tenDeR age of 14, Was at meiJeR as a caRt PusheR.

about the authoR:nathan stanley bell, aka Designer not a fighter, was born in 1981 at st. Joe’s in ann arbor, michigan. he was a fat baby. his father is from melvindale, mi and his mother was born and raised in D-town. his great grand parents came from Poland to hamtramack,miand are also from Poland on his dad’s mother’s side. his great grandfather from his dad’s side came from england to canada and ended up in bad axe, mi. nathan grew up at 915 spring st. in downtown ann arbor as a youngin, moved to california for 3 years then back to michigan where he lived in the sticks. soon after high school, nathan moved back to the west coast, where he has resided for almost 10 years. Despite this, he will always consider himself a midwesterner and is proud to rep ann arbor & michigan as his homeland. for the record, he still considers Washtenaw Diary in ann arbor as his favorite ice cream spot. and last but not least, go blue.

sorry if you don’t get something and/or are bored by this publication. Please recycle.

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*fact checking by mom&dad

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