May 31, 2012
From sturgeon to shad, pike to pickerel, carp and people who carped about carp, the fish tells us a lot about the way we live in Detroit. Today: the magnificent whitefish.
May 9, 2012
Visiting the grave of Alexander Macomb, hero of the Battle of Plattsburgh, namesake of Wayne County, painter, playwright, son of a swindler, and decorated early Detroiter.
May 7, 2012
Celebrating General Friend Palmer’s birthday with “whiskey in the gentlemen’s dressing room, and champagne in the supper room.”
April 25, 2012
The Detroit Drunken Historical Society takes over the side room at Slows to talk about the city’s mutable past. And I’m giving a reading at the Farmington Public Library on May 10.
April 5, 2012
A picture book of spring in Detroit. Historical glimpses of weather patterns. A poem about Lake Erie. Plus, it’s Opening Day.
March 21, 2012
Have a drink, learn about Detroit’s original badass, then get together to banish our little red devil in high historical spirits.
March 12, 2012
Why are we called “Wolverines”? You’ve heard the stories about the Toledo War and greedy land-grabbing settlers. Here’s one more idea, from an old tavern in Dearborn.
February 29, 2012
The story of an escaped slave living and working in Detroit.
February 20, 2012
If you’re planning to join in the drunk lecture on Wednesday, please note a venue change! We had so much interest that Foran’s won’t fit all of us.
February 20, 2012
Get out your calendar! Here’s where I’ll be in the next couple of weeks.
February 17, 2012
Part 2: From Germany, to Milwaukee, to Atlanta, to Detroit: the cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta.
February 16, 2012
Starting around 1850, Detroiters could pop into Old City Hall or the Firemen’s Hall and, for 25 cents or so, see the latest “greatest painting ever made” — sweeping views of overland route to California, the funeral of Napoleon, Bible scenes, the life of George Washington.
February 7, 2012
The Detroit Boat Club, founded in 1839, is the oldest in the country. Its home on Belle Isle is crumbling, compelling, and calls home centuries of water sport.
February 3, 2012
The historic Belle Isle Aquarium, closed since 2005, opens for one day only during Shiver on the River.
February 1, 2012
Henry Ford and Thomas Edison had neighboring seaside summer homes (and a research lab) in Florida. We visited.
January 26, 2012
Enjoy your dodransbicentennial, Michigan.