Loose Tea

Dear AMS,

Hello. I hope you don't mind if I call you AMS. My family and I have been researching and reading and discussing your works for months now and keep hearing interviewers asking you if they can call you "Sandy" as your friends do. We would not presume to be on such familiar terms, but I do hope it is ok to call you AMS.

I am thrilled that you are visiting Ypsilanti, Michigan, towards the end of April but realize that you are there for but an instant and then away to the next stop on your US tour. There likely will not be the opportunity to ask you anything near the questions I would love to ask or to share my thoughts on your works. And so I write this letter. This, too, is like the act of being on an island and placing a message in a bottle and sending it out to the wide sea. Maybe you will one day find it in the world of the Internet, maybe it will be lost to you but another traveller may pick it up and find it of use.

I just finished watching your Baylor lecture from 2005 [link] where you focus in on the intensely local. You talk at length about the importance of local associations to reach universal truths.

I am certain that you know all about San Francisco and the worlds of today's great authors like Amy Tan and your neighbor JK Rowling. I would be surprised if you knew too much, however, about the small town you will visit in April.

Its name is Ypsilanti and it is named after a Greek general, Demetrius Ypsilanti, a figure in the Greek war for independence. A bust of the General can be found near Ypsilanti's best known landmark the Water Tower.

Coming from Scotland, you may look at a map and naturally link Ypsilanti with its larger neighbor Detroit. While the influence of Detroit is felt, the closeness to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan weighs heavier for most residents. In fact, many residents live in Ypsilanti but work a short distance away in wealthier Ann Arbor.

Wealth, though, is not always measured in money. Certainly, this is not the case in Ypsilanti. Here, the wealth is in being a place centered on community. If you have the time to spend a few hours here, I recommend stopping by Bombadill's on Michigan Avenue. This is a coffee shop of somewhat less stature than your Elephant House, but no less essential to the life of the community. And yes, Bombadill's has two ls, not one as it does in Tolkien's work. In this way, no copyright violations occur.

At Bombadill's you will be able to experience a place akin to Hemingway's "clean, well lighted place"—you've read Hemingway extensively, no doubt. The baristas are sure to be friendly and create artwork out of any latte you order, but this is not where the real magic will happen. If you sit at a table and read the newspaper or simply sit dreamily for any time at all, one of the locals will approach you and begin to share a piece of their story. With not much luck at all, they also will begin to tell you the history of the community. Ypsilanti prides itself in its heritage. Or they might expound upon the living wage ordinance passed first in the state, here, or the human rights ordinance.

Alternately, you might stop by Cafe Luwak, a cafe where you can also buy ice cream or a fresh deli sandwich. At Luwak, you may well find an astrologer to offer you a view into your future or find a person who will launch with little preamble into the role Ypsilanti played in the American Civil War.

In any case, you will be able to develop a sense of the unique flavor, one that you can savor as something new, vibrant and different, with undertones from the past. I hope your visit is a fine one.

Sincerely, Teaspout