Volunteer Travel Log – Ypsilanti, Michigan

A while ago, I started a sort of travel log, wending my way through 6 years of wandering by telling tales of my volunteer gigs at each stop. So far, I recounted adventures in New Hampshire and devoted two posts to Massachusetts—one dedicated to my time with Rachel Maddow early in her career and the other to things more of this earth. 

So, our next stop was Ypsilanti, Michigan, a small town between Detroit and Ann Arbor in the southeast corner of the state, easily missed in the shadow of its two well-known neighbors. We moved to Ypsilanti at the beginning of the academic year. This meant that we learned about “up north” too late to take advantage of it that year. “Up north” is local jargon for the picturesque northern, wooded part of Michigan, including the  Upper Peninsula or “U.P.” (UP residents are called "yoopers"). 

Instead, virtually our only experience of the state outside of where we lived was the Interstate that led from the Canada crossing above the Lake Erie, down along the eastern edge of the state and into Detroit. The northern stretch of that highway in Michigan caught our attention (lots of serious hunting culture) but not our interest. So most of what we saw of Michigan was the southeast corner—i.e., Detroit, Ann Arbor to the west of Detroit, and our town, Ypsilanti ("Ypsi" to the locals), squeezed between the two.

We never really settled into Michigan the way we had in Massachusetts. As things turned out, we were there for less than a year. I found the grocery store and a car mechanic, but not a dentist or a doctor. And I never really found my “groove” here in terms of volunteer work.

After my great experience with AFSC in Northampton, I sought out that group early. However, the Ann Arbor office of AFSC was working solely on LGBTQ issues. Obviously, I'm not opposed to that sort of work, and I did some projects with them throughout our time there. But it never became a major focus for me.

As luck (or not) would have it, this was 2004, the year of the presidential campaign. “W” was up for a second term, and I was committed to doing everything I could to stop him. I was never excited about Kerry. For me, this was first and foremost a battle against Bush and his policies. To this end, I devoted myself virtually full-time to volunteer work at the Kerry campaign headquarters in Ann Arbor.

I did this from early September until November, when it was all over but the weeping. Here, I got a chance to practice the skills I learned working on the Oregon anti-LGB campaign while I was living in New Hampshire. I initially participated in and then supervised phone banks. I hate making cold calls. I especially hate making cold calls that are likely to be unwelcome, so this was not easy work for me. But I felt deeply obliged to do it.

I especially recall one day in October. It was close enough to the election that the campaign office was buzzing all day, and the hired staff were working virtually around the clock. But this was Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan Wolverines.

When the Wolverines play a home football game, the whole city empties out and fills the stadium. I volunteered to cover the phones during a game and ended up being the only person in the office. Here I was, new to Michigan, totally ignorant of local politics, a novice in campaign operations, but holding the fort by myself. I held my breath, hoping nothing noteworthy would happen. Fortunately, this tactic seemed to work.

After the election, I had a lot of free time and started casting about for other volunteer work. I was missing the broad social justice focus of AFSC in Northampton, so I went hunting for another group like that. Soon, I located a peace and social justice group called “Peace Works” (the name was so wonderful!) through a local newspaper article. (Hunting for a link to the group, I found that they closed shop the end of last year.) I worked with them for a short time, but somehow, this was never a perfect fit. You can see a pattern here—two volunteer gigs that didn't capture my passion. This is what I meant about not finding my "groove" here. One blessing of retirement, of course, is that if something doesn't work, you don’t have to keep doing it. So I moved on to something else.

And I found that something else in the LGBTQ community. On the same day that Bush was re-elected, the LGBTQ community of Michigan faced another major loss. The state’s voters passed a constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage and civil unions in the state. Michigan has an impressive array of LGBTQ community groups, as well as a really fine LGBTQ-specific newspaper, Between the Lines (now online under the auspices of “PrideSource”). After this painful loss at the polls, folks decided these groups needed to be working more closely and more effectively together. So, at a daylong retreat, representatives from these groups and from the community committed to creating a super-committee that would guide the way forward. I got to chair the group that selected that committee. Before I left in May, the selection process had been determined and the details clarified. The actual selection was well underway. I didn't get to see the final outcome of this process personally, but the super-committee went about its work, and soon, an umbrella group, "The Peninsula Group," was formed.

By that time, we were on our way to our next stop. This time, we went all the way west. We were headed for the City by the Bay, city of legend and song, city with a fascinating history, a vibrant queer culture, and way too few parking spots. San Francisco, open your golden gate!