ann arbor

The Ann Arbor District Library Summer Game

~ mpklamerus ~ 3 Comments

This is my first summer participating in the Summer Game at the Ann Arbor District Library and I’m hooked! It’s a yearly event organized by the library, and the 15th one in its current run, where you can get points through a variety of activities and use them to get prizes like shirts, little toys, stickers, etc.

Activities to get points can include:

  • Entering codes you find around the city on signs at buildings, front yards of people participating,
  • Codes can also be found at events held by the library
  • Getting badges, which are challenges like finding specific items in the library’s catalog and plugging in info from newspaper archives, which I believe will be used to help the library later.
  • And of course, reading

It’s turned my oldest and I into point goblins and we see a code on the side of a bus or at the top of a building and lose our shit. We just started a week ago and she already has the points for the flamingo stuffie at the shop that opens in the middle of July, so anything else is just a nice bonus for her. I’m hoping to get a nice t-shirt and poster. It’s just a really nice way to get you to explore the library’s branches, the city of Ann Arbor itself, encourages reading, and educates people on everything the library has available for checking out.

If you live in or around the city of Ann Arbor, I cannot recommend it enough. You do not need to be an Ann Arbor resident. I’m not, and I was encouraged to join by the director of the library. Many of the activities are virtual too so you don’t not need to drive into the city every time you want to participate.

Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival

~ mpklamerus ~ 3 Comments

This year the family and I attended the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival (also known as A2CAF) at the Ann Arbor District Library and it was great! We’ve been going for a few years now. It’s a free comics convention at the library aimed towards children but they get some big guests every year and it’s nice to have an event focused completely on comics. There’s some comic conventions in my area that I haven’t gone to in a long time, partially because they’re incredibly crowded and covid, but also because they’re all just focused on pop culture stuff now. Whenever I leave A2CAF, I feel excited about comics as a medium again. It’s the same energy I get when I go to my local zine fests and I think it’s because all of these events are very focused on how anyone can make comics. I think it’s also good for my kids to be exposed to that DIY attitude, although I would strongly recommend the event to local folks even if they aren’t parents.

We also signed up for the Summer Games challenge that the Ann Arbor District Library also does. I’ll probably do a big post about this later this year since it’s really interesting. I’ve never done it before but it’s been fun so far. You do NOT need to be an Ann Arbor resident to play.

Also shout out to my five year old who I thought had a more nuanced question planned for Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud at the Q&A but instead yelled “HOW DO YOU DO THAT?” into a microphone at the Michigan Theatre.

Libraries are the best. Go support them. I think I’m turning into someone who is getting shirts from all their local libraries.

Computer Store Photo Dump: State Street Computer

~ mpklamerus ~ 1 Comment

Here is a series of ads for a place called State Street Computer in Ann Arbor, Michigan showing the initial excitement for the Amiga, ads selling the computer, and then the final ad for the store showing their liquidation sale. I don’t have dates for all the ads because I saved these images a while ago and didn’t take notes then, but I can guess that it’s roughly from the mid 80’s to the very late 80’s or very early 90’s. These images came from looking through local newspapers and also from the Ann Arbor District Library website.

An ad introducing the commodore amiga for $995.00 and listing the computer's features and the store's address
An ad listing why people should pick up an Amiga instead of a Macintosh
an ad telling people to come see the amiga, the computer for the creative mind
an ad saying that summer is here and listing an special for the Amiga 500 that will save people $500
An ad for their liquidation sale, stating that everything must go. Says that all software is 30%-50% off

There’s a few other ads that I found as well. I’m guessing the freedom of the press one is aimed at college students looking to start their own zines or newspapers since this was right next to the University of Michigan.

Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one! Buy a Computer AND Laser Printer AND Software for only $2995 Atari Mega-2 Computer w/monitor Atari SLM804 300 dpi Laser Printer Microsoft Write & VIP Professional 2 Megabytes of memory User-friendly mouse environment STATE STREET computer 334 S. State, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (313) 663-0090 12 1/2% NBD bank financing available in one business hour.
Before you Kickoff on the wrong foot check out our everyday low prices Commodore PC20-III Clock Speed 4.77, 7.16, and 9.54 MHz Graphics 720x348 Monochrome, 320x200 16 Color, 640x200 4 Color Expansion 3 Expansion slots,1 Serial 1 Parallel port, Separate Hard Disk connector Memory, 640KB Memory Keyboard, Enhanced PC Keyboard Storage, 5 25" 360K Floppy Drive or 3.5" 72OK Floppy Drive, 20 Meg Hard Drive Software Included, WordPerfect v.5.0 $1580.00 our everyday low price IBM PS2 Model 30 Clock Speed 8 MHz Graphics 720x348 Monochrome,320x200 16 Color,640x200 4 Color Expansion 3 Expansion slots, 1 Serial 1 Parallel port Memory, 1MB Memory Keyboard, Enhanced PC Keyboard Storage 3.5" 720K Floppy Drive, 20 Meg Hard Drive Software Included, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word $2025.00 The University price quoted from the 'Computer Kickoff" Come in and see our complete line of Commodore, Amiga, Atari ST, and Delta Gold PC products. Commodore is a trademark ofComnodor Business Machines. Inc. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines, Inc. Stop in or Call STATE STREET COMPUTER 12 1/2% bank financing available in one business hour. 334 S. State. Ann Arbor Ml, 48104 (313) 663-0090
State Street Computer and Al Nalli's Music Annex Have Joined Forces to Provide Complete Computer MIDI Support! Come in and see for yourself: ■ Advanced but affordable Amiga, Atari, and IBM -compatible computers ■ State-of-the-art sequencing software such as Doctor T's Keyboard Controlled Sequencer V1 .6 for Amiga and Atari computers ■ In-store synthesizers and VHS video editing equipment ■ Superimpose Amiga animation over your video to make a computer graphic music video, or add professional titles to your videos 12 12% NBD bank financing available in 1 business hour. STATE STREET COMPUTER 334 South State Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 (313) 663-0090 This ad was produced using an Amiga, Professional Page, and the PSJet+ Laser printer in the State Street Computer Club.

Unfortunately I cannot find any images of the actual store. I looked up the location of the store on Google Maps and it would have been a high traffic spot near the University of Michigan.

Google Street Screenshot from 2011 showing the Nickels Arcade area of downtown Ann Arbor

If you have any photos of the store, I would love to see them posted somewhere.

Sources:
1. https://aadl.org/node/245897
2. https://aadl.org/node/245702
3. https://aadl.org/taxonomy/term/76102
4. https://aadl.org/node/245850