Ann Arbor throws a big 4th of July parade through downtown every year. However, the town festivities all end before sundown so fireworks are a DIY affair. We have three or four people on our block who literally begin stocking up months ahead of the event. On 4th of July evening, we get all the kids out after dark, bathe them in bug spray, and sit on the bleachers at the park while three or four dads put on an impressive display of fireworks.

I live on the 500 block of Keech Avenue, bordered on one side by Michigan Stadium and by Allmendinger Park on the other. Both entities play an important role in the identity of my neighborhood. We have literally thousands of visitors to our street each year. People come from all over the country to visit the stadium and participate in the American ritual of big 10 college football. People also come from all around town to visit the park. Visitors to both places inevitably end up passing through Keech Avenue.

I think of Ann Arbor as embodying traditional notions of Middle America. Here, the passing of time is defined as much by the rituals we collectively participate in as by the months on a calendar.

There’s a different one for each season. In fall it includes a walk in the woods, in winter it includes sledding or building a snow penguin, in spring it involves walking downtown, and in summer it involves drinking beer on neighbors’ porches.

Football days.

Football days.

Bob Seger’s “Mainstreet” was inspired by Ann Arbor’s Main Street.

A well educated, free spirited hippie who grows up and gets a job.

James Turrell, Robert Smithson, Edward Burtynsky.