SE Michigan's Blogger Nation

It's one of Broadway's great fortunes that Meredith Wilson conceived The Music Man, his musical about a guileful traveling salesman and his plan to swindle the innocent residents of a small Midwestern town, some 40 years before the advent of the Internet. When Harold Hill rolls into the center of town proclaiming the perils of the pool hall and the need for a wholesome boys' band, he engages the denizens of River City, Iowa, in one of the most roiling ensemble numbers ever staged in American theater. It's hard to imagine Wilson could set such a scene today, when the most realistic response of townsfolk would be to rush home and debate the city's nascent gaming in the blogosphere.

There's little doubt that the days of rhetorical showdowns in the public square over matters of civic importance are over. The Internet allows debate that is instantaneous, anonymous, easily archived, and sustainable for as long as people care to log on to their computers. In Southeast Michigan, a crop of blogs have sprouted up to draw attention to their communities, be it in the form of pro bono public relations, political musings or forums where residents can share ideas.

Girl In The D, ??? in AA 

Take Girl in the D created in 2003 by self-described Detroit junkee Jaimie Pfeffer. The sleek blog was designed to tell readers about hot spots to hang out in Detroit as well as upcoming cultural events. Before starting the blog, Pfeffer was a Sterling Heights native living and working as a securities broker in Royal Oak. There she met a New Yorker who had come to the Motor City to help start up a mortgage firm. Because her new beau lived downtown, Pfeffer began venturing into the city to explore his stomping grounds. It was during these excursions that Pfeffer fell for the entrepreneur — and for Detroit.

"As I started to explore the city, I realized that it was so different from what I grew up hearing," said Pfeffer, who lives with her beau — and now husband — on Detroit's east Riverfront about a mile from the Renaissance Center. "When we moved to an apartment in the city it was phenomenal the number of people who were shocked — they thought we were crazy. But instead of being angry I decided I wanted to shed positive light on cool things going on in Detroit. My goal for Girl in the D is to only write positive things about the city because local news is so negative."

In recent posts, Pfeffer tells readers about an opportunity to attend a discussion by Detroit Institute of Art Director Graham W. J. Beal on the museum's $156 million renovation and expansion, a textile line's launch at Midtown's Bureau of Urban Living home store, and Detroit Uncorked, a night of wine-tasting and entertainment to raise money for the Children's Center in Detroit.

An antithesis to Pfeffer's blog would be Ann Arbor Is Overrated (AAIO), which an anonymous graduate student started to explore "the vague feeling of wrongness" he felt living in a town where everything closed before 10 p.m. in hip Kerrytown and rent was higher than it is in Boston.

In a recent postings, AAIO's author discusses why WOKL, Ann Arbor's 107.1, "is heartbreakingly close to being a great radio station" and issues an admonition to the city's residents to remember "there's a war on" when grieving the sub-par performance of the University of Michigan's football team. Still, AAIO's author insists on his site that its purpose "isn't just to complain about how much I hate Ann Arbor. It started out that way, but I now think of it as a blog that just happens to use [Ann Arbor] as a springboard for my various attempts at cultural commentary."

Up and down, back n forth

Another popular area blog, Teeter Talk is David Askins attempt to deliver his readers a literal back-and-forth with interesting locals. Each of his postings consist of a transcript of an interview Askins —whose online moniker is "Homeless Dave" — conducts with a guests while riding a seesaw in his yard in Ann Arbor. His guests have included former Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon, University of Michigan Central Power Plant Manager Richard Wickboldt, County Commissioner Conan Smith and Ann Arbor City Council Member Chris Easthope.

Askins claims the concept for the blog grew out of his long-ago abandoned desire to produce a film called "Homeless Dave Gets His Clothes Washed," which was inspired by a hand-cranked Amish washing machine Askins has owned for 15 years. While the explanation is hard to parse, the teeter totter at a minimum entails the physical exertion of the hand washer. It also creates a bond between those conversing.

"You get a different conversation on a teeter totter than you do sitting in an easy chair," said Askins. "Just the fact that you're in a very physical environment and you're in a cooperative endeavor means it will be less confrontational than it might otherwise be. There's a risk of people hurting themselves, so it's not likely that I'm going to try to engage in an 'I gotcha!' kind of Mike Wallace style of challenging people."

Askins is presently attempting to coax an Ann Arbor resident who grew a 53-pound pumpkin on his front lawn to ride the teeter.

"There's no other [requirement] than a willingness to ride the teeter totter with me," he said. "I think less and less about getting the super prominent person and more about talking to people who might give me a really great conversation."

Ypsilanti-based Richard Murphy, who muses about whatever comes to mind in a popular blog called Common Monkeyflower (after a small blooming plant found out West), also contributes to Arbor Update, which has been a catalyst for heated community-based debates in Ann Arbor. Locals have used the site to argue about everything from commercial development plans to boycotting Israeli products at the local Food Coop to a potential ban on front porch couches (which was ultimately tabled).

Murphy considers blogs "a good forum for accidental communication. People will find something you've said on a blog through Google or random browsing, and they'll offer a different opinion and say something. Then you've met someone you've never had a reason to meet before."

Complaints, compliments and hope

Local "Web artist" Lowell Boileau started a highly trafficed blog called DetroitYES! as a way to bring attention to the glory that was — and could still be — Detroit.

Boileau, who grew up in small towns in Michigan and Wisconsin, began the site in 1997 as a Web tour called The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit. The virtual tour of more than 350 images was intended to be "a sympathetic telling of the story of Detroit" in the context of photos of the decrepit remnants of once proud edifices. The site took on an interactive component in 1999 and is now host to an active stream of chat among city dwellers who discuss everything from Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's whistleblower lawsuit to the potential opening of a Shields Pizza in Grand Circus Park.

Boileau says the more somber aspects of his site are meant to spur viewers' desire for a renaissance in Detroit. "I'm an optimist," explains Boileau. "I'm upbeat. I think things are promising for Detroit, but I think one has to be honest all the time."

Pfeffer concurs, believing Detroit's promising days are already here.