#burton michigan

[pabitelphotography]

a little bit of cottage-core

✨ october ✨

With every month’s spotlight this year, I’m going to paint a little word picture of a comfy fairytale cottage. I’ll set the stage, adding more detail to this picturesque lifestyle cottage through each photo. My hope is that you’ll imagine right alongside me. And, in the comments, I would LOVE for you to play along! Tell me what your cottage looks like, what the property looks like, what you’d change about mine, ANYTHING!! I think this cottage will be so fun to build together. 🤍

🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣

(10/12) Have I already mentioned having a bunch of winged friends at the cottage? Yes? Well, here we go again! My little white cottage with thatched roofing has a multitude of resident birds: mallard ducks, black-capped chickadees, black-crowned night-herons, and of course, Canadian geese. The cute Canadian geese tend to nest along the banks of the small stream that gently flows along the back edge of my cottage’s property. In the Spring, I am blessed enough to see a handful of the fluffiest goslings. They follow their parents out of the stream bank’s tall grasses, through my white clover lawn, all of the way to my peaceful pond for a quick swim at least once a day.

🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣

A Little Bit of Cottage-Core is available as a 12-month calendar or build-your-own notecard set. Calendar orders are being accepted through December. Notecards are available individually or as build-your-own packs of three or ten cards. Message me to order or with any questions, and don’t forget to paint your word picture in the comments. See you soon for November's spotlight! 🤍

Calendars: $31.00 Individual Notecard: $7.00 Three-pack: $15.00 10-pack: $38.00 (shipping and tax is additional)

Ordering directly through me is always the best route, but both calendars and notecards can be found on Etsy as well: Calendar Notecards

[scottwellsmagic]

777: Abbott's 85th Get Together 2023 Convention - Day Three Report

Friday, August 4th

9:30AM REGISTRATION OPENS at the Abbott Plant 9:30AM ABBOTT'S TALENT CONTEST (more info ) at High School (requires registration) 10:00AM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS (requires registration) 11:00AM - 5:00PM COLON ARTS AND CRAFTS FAIR (Craft Show/Vendor Info) 12:00PM FREE STREET PERFORMANCE (Odd Cory & JuJu Sideshow at Grannys) 1:00PM LECTURE - MAC KING (requires registration) 1:00PM MAGIC SHOW featuring Tim Wright at Abbott's Magic Theatre $5 2:00PM JAY BLACKWELL JUGGLING/FIRE EATING & MORE at Sterlini Magic & Theater $10 2:30PM ABBOTT'S CLOSEUP SHOW (requires registration) 3:00PM FACE PAINTING till 6PM outside 5 Star Pizza by Award Winning Artist Carol Hendrix (Standard Fees) 3:00PM-5PM COLON HISTORICAL MUSEUM is open (Colon Museum Webpage) 4:00PM FREE STREET PERFORMANCE (Gordon Russ at Colon Library) 4:30PM MAGIC SHOW featuring Rocky Clements at Abbott's Magic Theatre $5 5:00PM LIVE AT 5 WITH THE STERLINI'S at Sterlini Magic & Theater $10 5:30PM FREE STREET PERFORMANCE (Trino at Curlys) 6:00PM-7:45PM DINNER (on your own) 7:45PM PRESHOW LIVE ORGAN MUSIC - by John Sturk 8:00PM ABBOTT'S STAGE SHOW - THE FAR EAST MAGIC GALA           Featuring Kento Mukai (Japan), Shimpei Katsuragawa (Japan), Takehito Inoue (Japan), Yukihiro Katayama (Japan), Yu Komohara (Japan), Shouma (Japan) 10:00PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS (requires registration) 10:15PM DAVID MCCREARY at Sterlini Magic & Theater $15 10:30PM ABBOTT'S TALENT CONTEST AWARDS (requires registration)

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here. If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

[courtvictim-com]

Judge Freddie G. Burton

Corrupt Judge Freddie G. Burton Judge Freddie G. Burton Jr. Wayne County Michigan Nonpartisan Wayne County Probate Court Tenure Present officeholder Term ends 2025 Elections and appointments Last elected November 6, 2018 Education Law Wayne State University Law School Freddie G. Burton Jr. is a judge of the Wayne County Probate Court in Michigan. His current term ends on January 1, 2025. Burton…

[burtonfamilydental]

Dental Implants treatment in Burton, MI

Before and after!

True results from real patients. Take a look at these beautiful teeth. Contact us for an appointment today.

Visit Our Website: https://www.burtonfamilydentalmi.com/our-services/dental-implants/

[detroitlib]

View of Martin Luther King, Jr. at Ford Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan. Stamped on back: "By Detroit News staff photographer Seiter. Reporter: Pete Lochbider. Finished by: [blank]." Handwritten on back: "Rev. Martin Luther King at Ford Auditorium."

Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

[hotvampireadjacent]

This image was shown in Lakota Nation vs United States briefly. I will never forget the first time I saw this image. That’s when I finally understood how clear it is that the death and near extinction of the American buffalo was tied to the Native American genocide.

There’s no excuse for this. This image drives home the cruelty. They didn’t need nor use the buffalo for meat, it was all done in the name of starving native people to death

Wikipedia credits it as: Original taken at Michigan Carbon Works, Rougeville, Michigan. 1892. Located in the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.

[piizunn]

orville peck: appropriation and intellectual property

Orville Peck is a white South African man who has built his entire career off of colonial North American western aesthetics that are directly influenced by Métis and First Nations cultures and aesthetics. This aesthetic is incredibly loaded and has a history that he seemingly has no understanding of other than the fact that often cowboys were queer. In fact, Peck has gone so far as to rip off Métis and Saulteaux artist Dayna Danger.

Fig. 1: Danger, Dayna. Big’Uns: Adrienne, 2017. Courtesy of the artist’s website.

Fig. 2: Orville Peck for Alternative Press Magazine, January 2021

The first image is from a series of similar photographs created by Dayna Danger, well known contemporary artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. The second image is Orville Peck's cover for Alternative Press magazine's January 2021 issue. In addition to the responsibility of the photographers and stylists to be researching artwork and influences and giving proper credit, it is also up to all parties to understand the colonial implications of the material culture represented in Peck's magazine cover.

Given that Peck is a white South African man I highly doubt he has an actual understanding of how North America was colonized, how animals like bison were hunted into near extinction by white settlers seeking to starve the First Nations and Métis people into extinction as a tool in their ongoing genocide. Many populations of native fauna are still recovering from this practice. In addition to slaughtering millions of animals, white settlers posed proudly with their trophies, mountains of skulls representing the loss of our animals and their triumph over nature and our people.

Fig. 3: Men standing with pile of buffalo skulls, Michigan Carbon Works, Rougeville MI, 1892. Photo from Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

Rather than providing an artistic compliment on the history of North American colonialism and cowboy culture, Orville Peck culture hopped from one settler-colonial state to another, to profit from and flatten the aesthetic into something simply rooted in queer culture rather than Black, Mexican, Métis, and First Nations communities and histories.

Works Cited:

Alternative Press. Orville Peck cover, January 2021.

Danger, Dayna. Big'Uns: Adrienne, 2017. https://www.daynadanger.com/photography

Tascheru Mamers, Danielle. Men standing with pile of buffalo skulls, Michigan Carbon Works, Rougeville MI, 1892. Photo from Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library. December 2020.

[ausetkmt]

On this day in 1886: Black abolitionist shares Underground Railroad strategy ⋆ Michigan Advance

On Jan. 17, 1886, Black abolitionist William Lambert revealed that he was part of a secret order called, “African American Mysteries: Order of the Men of Oppression.”  He made the declaration in a Detroit Tribune newspaper article.

Lambert and others used codes, passwords and secret handshakes to help slaves gain freedom along the Underground Railroad, the Detroit tailor said. 

“These and other abolitionist efforts, by both groups and individuals, assisted thousands of fugitives on their travels on the Underground Railroad in Michigan,” according to the Detroit Historical Society.  William Lambert | Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

The “railroad” was a multi-state network of men and women, Blacks and whites African American who offered shelter and aid to escaped enslaved people from Southern states like Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, ending slavery in America. 

Born in Trenton, N.J, Lambert was 21 when he arrived in Detroit in 1838. As a leader in the Underground Railroad movement, Lambert assisted in the escapes of Thornton and Rutha Blackburn in 1833. They were slaves from Kentucky.

In 1837, Lambert helped to form the Detroit Anti-Slavery Society. It included prominent Black abolitionists Robert Banks, and Madison Lightfoot as well as prominent whites Edwin Cowles, Robert Steward and Shubael Conant.

In 1840, Lambert addressed the Michigan Legislature and challenged the body to amend the state constitution to allow for African Americans to be given full citizenship. 

Three years later, Lambert also participated in a two-day Negro Suffrage Convention which was held at Second Baptist Church, Michigan’s first Black church congregation located in Detroit. There, 23 delegates discussed and planned a strategy to win voting rights and sustainable employment for African Americans.

A resolution adopted by the assembly read as follows:

“Whereas we find ourselves existing in this state, with no marks of criminality attached to our names as a class — no spots of disloyalty dishonoring our birthright; and whereas, we yet find ourselves the subjects and not the objects of legislation, because we are prevented from giving an assenting or opposing voice in the periodic appointments of those who rule us.”

Lambert died in 1890 at age 71.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Three children and three staff members were gunned down at a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday before the shooter, a heavily armed 28-year-old woman, was killed by police, authorities said.

The shooting unfolded at The Covenant School on Burton Hills Boulevard where officers "engaged" the attacker, described by Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake as a woman who appears to be a former student at the school.

"At one point she was a student at that school, but unsure what year," he said.

The shooter was identified as Audrey Hale, a Nashville resident, three law enforcement officials briefed on the matter told NBC News.

The shooter was killed on the school's second floor, a police spokesperson said. She had two "assault-type rifles and a handgun," according to the official.

Students of the school, which serves preschool students through sixth graders, were being bused to Woodmont Baptist Church, two miles away, to be reunited with their parents.

Police said they first got calls about the shooter at 10:13 a.m. CT and Nashville firefighters first reported their personnel were responding to an “active aggressor” at 10:39 a.m. CT.

"The police department response was swift," police spokesperson Don Aaron told reporters.

"They heard shots coming from the second level. They immediately went to the gunfire. When the officers got to the second level, they saw a shooter, a female, who was firing. The officers engaged her. She was fatally shot by responding police officers."

Five police officers came upon the shooter and two opened fire on her, Aaron said. The shooter entered the school through a "side entrance" on the first floor, he added.

"By 10:27 the shooter was deceased," Aaron said.

It was not clear how the shooter gained access to the school.

"There was a door that was entered. All doors were locked, to our understanding, and how exactly she got in, at this point, is still under investigation," Drake said.

One officer was hurt by shattered glass, officials said.

The names and ages of the victims have not been released. The chief said the families of all six victims had been notified.

"Right now I will refrain from saying the ages, other than to say I was literally moved to tears to see this and the kids as they were being ushered out of the building,” Drake said.

Shortly after police announced the shooter was dead, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation also said “there is no current threat to public safety.”

The Covenant School employs 33 teachers with an 8-to-1 student-to-instructor ratio, according to its website.

On a normal day of class, there would be 209 students and 42 staff members on campus, Aaron said.

The school was founded in 2001 as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, and shares the same address as the church.

The fire department helped usher the children out of the school, carefully trying to help them from seeing the carnage.

“We were on scene to help them mitigate anyone from seeing exactly what else was going on,” fire department spokesperson Kendra Loney said. "But we're sure they heard the chaos surrounding this."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the school shooting.

In a statement, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said: "I am closely monitoring the tragic situation at Covenant. As we continue to respond, please join us in praying for the school, congregation & Nashville community."

The gunfire in Nashville on Monday follows multiple shootings on campuses across the country.

Just days ago, a 17-year-old suspect wounded two administrators at a Denver high school before he was found dead.

In February, three students were gunned down at Michigan State University.

And in January, two students were fatally shot at a charter school in Des Moines, Iowa.

Dr. Adrienne Battle, director of Metro Nashville Public Schools, referenced the shootings in a statement.

“We don’t know all of the details of how or why this happened, and we may never fully know. At Metro Schools, we have invested considerable resources to strengthen security at our facilities in response to the far too many, far too often instances of school shootings across the nation over the years. We will continue to reinforce our safety protocols and monitor and follow best practices on keeping students safe from harm,” she said.

[sunkissed-zegras]

I want more on Cece’s family!!! Like her mom or dad :))) love your AU btw you are doing miracles for us Adam girlies 🩶🩶

AAAA i love you so much, thank you nonnie :) and of course that’s like my fav topic pls 😭😭

she’s def a momma’s girl, her and her mom always are texting no matter WHAT, her mom is for sure her best friend. her mom is also an incredibly hard worker and such a good person inside and out, she just makes everyone around her go 💖💘💕💞💗💝💘 you know?? she’s that type of person

and that’s why cece is the way the she is, she grew up with such a strong and distinct mother figure that it leaked into her personality if that makes sense lol so she grew up to be that way too, like all motherly and loving and just warm

her dad as well plays such a big part because he got her standards SO FREAKING HIGH, she won’t ever settle for a man. this man literally worships the ground her mom walks on and just seeing that as a little kid was such like a big thing for her, and now she doesn’t deal w men’s bs. she’s very strong willed because of that too

her dad’s also the stereotypical white dad™ who likes golf and football but he’s also like REALLY SWEET. he loves his girls sm and would die for them. he gives off phil dunphy vibes personality wise but for sure played college football yk??? he’s the type to say “if you need me you call me” and now that’s just a part of her life. if she ever needs something, even if she’s in ohio, he’ll drive down from michigan to help her out

they’re both incredibly sweet and that’s why cece is the way that she is, we love the burton fam 🫶🏼😁

[rockislandadultreads]

Fiction Picks: Stories Featuring Pets

Calling all pet lovers - check out these paw-sitively wonderful stories featuring our favorite furry friends!

Girls and Their Horses by Eliza Jane Brazier

When the nouveau riche Parker family moves to an exclusive community in the heart of Southern California, they believe it’s their chance at a fresh start. Heather Parker is determined to give her daughters the life she never had - starting with horses. She signs them up for riding lessons and, before long, becomes a “Barn Mom,” part of a group of wealthy women who hang at the stables, drink wine, and prepare their daughters for competition. It’s not long before the Parker family is fully enmeshed in Horse World and, before the summer is over, lies turn lethal, accidents happen, and someone turns up dead.

A Troubling Tail by Laurie Cass

The charming town of Chilson, Michigan, is beautiful in the spring, and the bookmobile is delivering great reads far and wide on one of the first warm days of the year. But a chill sweeps through when they discover that one of their favorite patrons, the owner of Henika’s Candy Emporium, has been found murdered. Although Minnie can’t understand who could have had a motive to murder such a kind man, she decides that the problem isn’t hers to solve. However, when rumors start flying around town and the police have no leads, Minnie and her rescue cat, Eddie, throw their investigative hats into the ring.

This is the 11th volume in the "Bookmobile Cat Mystery" series.

Housebroke by Jaci Burton

After her ex took their money and bailed, Hazel Bristow is left broke and homeless. A kind friend whose home is on the market lets Hazel and her foster dogs stay there until it sells. It’s the perfect setup, until her friend forgets to tell Hazel she’s sold the house. Linc Kennedy is shocked to find Hazel and her pups squatting in the house he just bought, but after some negotiating, he agrees to let her remain while he’s renovating the place. They are soon intrigued by one another and come to realize they are feeling more than puppy love.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all Charlie wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good. In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.

[eorzean-capitalist]

saw this post earlier about wearing t-shirts of bands you don't even like just to mess with gatekeepers.

I'm reminded of like... 17 year old me. (I think I was 17, the friend who accompanied me to this concert keeps swearing we were 16, idek anymore. I'm old ok?)

Went to see Metallica, for their Black Album tour. It was my birthday present. My friend flew down from Michigan to go with me cause we were both huge fans.

I was a scrappy thing, absolutely in my teenage rebellion phase. Precocious, I guess.

As the opening band played (Candlebox), I got in line to get a t-shirt. There was this guy behind me, and I kinda remember wondering why he was wearing a trench coat. This was before the days of internet memes about M'lady Fedora guys. It was mid-May and the day was actually pretty warm, sunny, and the outdoor arena was packed full of people. Trench coat guy looked kinda weird, that thing had to be hot.

So he starts chatting with me. Remember, I am precocious 17... er maybe 16 year old at this point. I'm at my first metal concert ever and I am absolutely over the moon about it. This guy looks early 30ish, and he's subtly making passes at me. I ain't interested. But it passes the time in line.

So he asks me how old I am and I'm like not going to tell this guy the truth. I think I told him I was 18 or 19. And he starts making noises about me being a baby. And he's "been a fan of the band since the early days".

Insert inner eye roll from me. I had every single one of the band's albums. I was a fan and student of all things Metallica. What's age got to do with this?

So he starts asking me questions, the typical gatekeeping crap. Of course I can answer them. Then he thinks he pulled out his coup de grace I guess. He asks me who their original bassist was.

Which, of course I knew. JFC it was Ron McGovney. And he laughs at me! He laughs cause who tf is that? It was Cliff Burton.

My dude. Don't come at teenage girls with this bull crap if you don't know your own shit. Especially autistic ones who made the band a hyperfixation for years and learned every scrap of dumbass trivia about the band that they could.

And I told him as much, giving him the encyclopedic rundown of Ron's tenure with the band and when he left and the alleged reasons why.

Insert guy behind him laughing. Full on laughing so hard he nearly doubles over. I hadn't even noticed the guy. But he was a big guy, tattooed and muscled arms. Way taller than trench coat guy. (Tbf though, I was also taller than trench coat guy.)

When he finally stops laughing he says, "She's right."

Trench coat guy's face was beet red at this point. I dunno if it was because I showed him up or because the big guy behind us was laughing. Or both. But he bolted out of the line. We were maybe 6 or 7 people away from the t-shirt kiosk by then but he trotted off into the crowd and I did not see him again.

I got my Sad but True t-shirt and the guy behind me asked me to wait up for him. He walked me back to my seat. (His name was Otto, how freaking fitting honestly.) Just in case trench coat guy's ego was so damaged he required revenge to alleviate the damage.

I wonder if Otto even remembers that. And if he sometimes thinks of that kid he overheard schooling some d-bag gatekeeper while standing in line for the t-shirt kiosk.

It's been a great story to tell over the years. I hope trench coat guy eventually snuck back over and got his t-shirt though.

[scottwellsmagic]

703: Abbott's Get Together 2022 - Day One Report

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3rd 2022 9:30AM REGISTRATION OPENS at the Abbott Plant Purchase Registration/Tickets 10:00AM - 12:45PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS' ROOM at Colon High School Requires Abbott's Registration 10:00AM TARGET: MIDNIGHT RELEASED in Dealers Room Target Midnight Release (High School) Requires Registration 10:15AM SLIGHTLY IRREGULAR BOOK SALE in Dealers Room (Available Book List) (High School) Requires Registration 10:30AM SHOWROOM SPECIALS in Dealers Room Spooky Collectibles and Super Deals (High School) Requires Registration 11:15AM LECTURE - Duane Laflin "Making Magic Fun" at Laflin's Grand Magic Theater Free 12:00PM STREET PERFORMER - John Sturk (On Blackstone at Dawn's Cafe past picnic tables) 1:00PM OLD FASHION MAGIC SHOW with John Shango at Abbott's Magic Theatre $5 2:00 PM JAY BLACKWELL JUGGLING/FIRE EATING & MORE at Sterlini Magic & Theater 2:30PM STREET PERFORMER - Jania Taylor (Granny's Place by American Legion) 3:00PM LECTURE - Bizzaro at High School Requires Abbott's Registration 3:00PM-5PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS' ROOM at Colon High School Requires Abbott's Registration 3:00PM-5PM COLON HISTORICAL MUSEUM is open (Colon Museum Webpage) Free 3:00PM-6PM FACE PAINTING with Award Winning Artist Carol Hendrix 4:30PM OLD FASHION MAGIC SHOW with Joe Bennett at Abbott's Magic Theatre $5 5:00 PM LIVE AT 5 WITH THE STERLINI'S at Sterlini Magic & Theater $10 5:30PM STREET PERFORMER - Bibik! (Magic Capital Grill by bridge) 6:00PM-7:45PM DINNER on your own 7:45PM PRESHOW LIVE ORGAN MUSIC - by John Sturk Requires Abbott's Registration or Ticket ($30/$45) 8:00PM ABBOTT'S STAGE SHOW Requires Abbott's Registration or Ticket ($30/$45) Featuring Bizzaro, Nick Diffatte, Doug Stafford, Joel Hodgson NOTE: Tickets for the Abbott evening Stage Show must be purchased in advance at the Abbott Plant or online before 5pm that day. You will be able to pick up tickets at a will call window at the show, but Abbotts will not be able to sell any at the door. 8:00PM GRAND MAGIC CLASSIC SHOW - 8 PM at the Laflin's Grand Magic Theater - $14.95 adult, $6.95 child 10:00PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS at Colon High School Requires Abbott's Registration

Time stamps for this episode (to be completed after I’ve had some sleep):

00:00:16 - After departing FISM Quebec, we are on the road from Detroit, Michigan, on an early, early morning drive to Colon.

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here..If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

[racecargraveyard]

2002 Dale Jarrett #88 UPS Michigan Win Raced Version Custom. Spun on lap 12, make up ground, and won after passing Jeff Burton with 5 to go. Dale's 30th Cup win.

[aaronbleyaert]

Magic, by any other name, is just a trick

I’ve always loved magic. For as long as I can remember, I was obsessed with the likes of Jean Robert-Houdin, Penn & Teller, David Copperfield, Ricky Jay, Harry Houdini, The Amazing Randi, Lance Burton, and on and on. In high school, while other people my age were sneaking alcohol and trying to kiss girls, I was in my bedroom practicing different ways to hide a coin in my hand (between bouts of playing D&D at the local Denny’s of course). I would study books on card tricks like they were holy texts unearthed in the caves of Qumran. I used to spend hours wandering through my local magic shop trying to decide on what trick I was going to spend my hard saved money on next.

But, of course, those are all just tricks. Not real magic.

When I was kid, at the end of every grade, my mom would make me fill out this book about everything I liked and didn't like, who my friends were, what sports I played, what I was reading, watching, etc.

I hated this book.

It was always the day after the last day of school - aka the first day of summer vacation, the first day of freedom - that I had to sit down and fill out the entries in this book. All my friends, already starting their summer vacations with jubilant screams from out in the street, and here I was with The Book. It was like a toll for all the fun I was supposedly going to have that summer.

Anyway.

So I'm back home in Michigan two weeks ago, going through some old photos, and what does my mom pull out of the cabinet... But The Book.

It was incredible. Truly.

So many years, so many tiny forgotten details, all right there at my fingertips. Absolutely unreal. Some things (Favorite TV show: Quantum Leap) I remembered; other things (Favorite Movie: Monster Squad) were an absolute epiphany.

Magic. Real magic.

This was the kind of thing I had been searching for, all those years when I was younger; but instead of the ability to read someone's mind, or pour endless amounts of water from a small plastic jug, what I got was a whole host of forgotten knowledge about Past Me, paid for in full from all those First Days of Summer I spent angrily scribbling my favorite things down through the years.

It's so weird - when I was a kid, all I wanted was to be somebody else. Somebody else, living somewhere else. To shout some arcane word or mutter an unholy phrase and instantly transform myself and my life into something exciting.

But now that I am somebody else living somewhere else, someone with a life that sometimes feels exciting, I find myself thinking more and more about who I used to be - and wishing I could open a portal back through time to who I was then. Wishing, again, that I knew how to perform magic. And finding this book did just that.

So if you're wanting to be somebody else, or be somewhere else, start by writing down everything about who you are now - but only the little stuff. The daily things that you find boring and wish you could forget. The small pleasures that make you smile but aren't big enough to make a ripple in your week. I promise you, that in three months, six months, a year, five years - you will realize that it all has changed: That you are a different person, living a different life. The only constant in this world is that it's always changing - whether you realize it or not. Life only happens when you look away. It might only feel like a moment, but when you look back, it will feel like forever.

Abracadabra.

[detroitlib]

Portrait of women in front of wood frame home in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Recorded in glass negative ledger: "M/Localities-Grosse Pointe."

Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library