April 10, 2020
PART 1 — My first inkling that something was really wrong came on Friday night March 6. Before that, I had heard there was a worrisome virus sweeping Asia. Our health inspector mentioned it in early February during a routine inspection at our bakery & cafe. He said it had begun in the open-air markets where live animals are held and slaughtered for sale. I remember joking that being a vegan restaurant, it would never affect us. I only then learned that the name of the virus was corona. At the time I regarded it like SARS or bird flu -- something that would unfortunately hurt people far away, but would never land on my doorstep.

April 12, 2020
PART II — It's Easter Sunday. The day our so-called president said we'd be getting back to normal. What a joke. We knew better. Normal is nowhere on the horizon. It's been about five weeks since the virus showed up on our continent. And nearly a month since restaurants were sidelined to carryout and delivery only.

April 23, 2020
Yesterday saw the return of one staff member who had relapsed on alcohol. After a rough 10 days, and medical help, he got his condition under control. We discussed how much more difficult it is these days -- vs normal times -- to stay sober and mentally healthy. It is a blessing to have him back; several of us had been worried about him and we had missed his energy. Hopefully all of us at the restaurant have learned something from his experience and can better take care of ourselves and each other.

Sunday May 10, 2020

Mother’s Day

I’m starting to experience a new curve on the corona-era rollercoaster. There are many lenses through which to look at this thing. There are the broad sectors-- public health, economic and political. Then there are the personal ones. And then they start to blend together. Each time the stay-at-home order gets extended, on the one hand, I am not surprised or dismayed. It’s necessary and understandable. But it also deepens the feeling of tightrope walking without a net.

I’m feeling the effects of two months of disruption to professional and social routines. These days… confusion, sadness, and fear combine with my usual sense of optimism, creativity, indefatigability and compassion. When I was a U-M student in the 80s, living in East Quad, there was a janitorial closet someone had labeled “Primal Scream.” Rarely used back then, I’m sure it would be in demand right now.

July 6, 2020

If I were to give this post a title it would be “Learning to live with it.” After weeks and months of ups and downs -- opening this and closing that, getting mixed messages from our leaders, reading ever-changing information about how the virus infects, what it does to the body, and how it may mutate -- it has become clear that no one really knows. There is no timeline, no blueprint, and no master plan. Couple that with the tug of war between racial justice and white supremacy -- people standing up for what’s right being met by a backlash of fear, anger and hatred from those who derive their privilege from the status quo-- and you see that everything hangs in the balance.

July 13, 2020
During summertime, the Kerrytown neighborhood marches to the beat of a Farmer’s Market drummer. The local population swells on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when vendors set up their stands and the public streams through to gawk, visit, and purchase produce and crafts. In that regard, this summer is the same as every other. But this summer is also very different. Everyone is wearing masks. People awkwardly and distantly visit with friends and neighbors in conversations that go like this: “hello, hey it’s me behind this mask, how are you?” Foot traffic through the market is one way. Signage tells people to stay six feet apart and move along. Yellow-vest-clad volunteers are there to remind people of the rules.

July 21, 2020
Adventures in pandemic-land continue. First off, I am happy to report that all staff members are healthy. We continue to take and record our temperatures and to answer health-related questionnaires daily. That rules out symptomatic infections among staff. As for the possibility of asymptomatic infections, who knows? The only sure answer would come through periodic testing. But now, 4+ months into this pandemic, widespread testing is still elusive.

On July 7, the county health department wrote to all restaurants: “The new ‘testing cadence’ from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recommends anyone working in public-facing positions (restaurants, retail, etc.) to be tested every two weeks.” A number of testing sites were listed, including St. Joseph Mercy, Packard Health, CVS, Rite Aid, and others We committed ourselves to following those recommendations, starting with sending our managers to get tested.

One week later, I reported back to the health department: One of our managers was having difficulty getting tested. It turned out that most sites required appointments, and some were not taking appointments at all because they were already scheduled too far out into the future. Other sites would not test asymptomatic workers. Our manager finally ended up getting tested at Packard Health five days ago. He waited for 2 hours in a line of cars for the drive-through test -- and has still not received his results.

August 22, 2020
Big decisions, namely regarding The Lunch Room Diner in Kerrytown. Yes, we have turned the space over to Eat -- a carryout and catering operation in need of a dining room and downtown presence. And we have shrunk from three locations to two in a bid to conserve resources and survive this period. More details below.

October 6, 2020
Our plan is to extend the al fresco experience as long as possible, and to make it as enjoyable as possible. Here’s what you need to know.

October 25, 2020
In 2004, while director of Michigan Peaceworks, I wrote the following piece “Revisiting The Plague.” That time, the post-9/11 era, was defined on the homefront by shrinking civil liberties, and the arrest and detention-without-charge of Muslim immigrants — and abroad by unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The lessons of “The Plague” held special meaning then. Fast forward 16 years and “The Plague” again (or still) is instructive, but for new reasons. Faced with an actual plague, plus state-sanctioned and vigilante violence, Camus’ words can inspire us to heal our society and begin to put back together our severely damaged nation and world.

November 1, 2020
As I write this post, it is three days into our outdoor seating closure and two days from the most significant election of our lifetime. Dare I say, it is a time of high anxiety and uncertainty. Is anyone else having trouble sleeping at night?

Here is a snapshot of what’s going on at Detroit Street: We announced on Friday that we were doing our part to stem the spread of COVID, before COVID came to us. With cases skyrocketing here and everywhere, we made the responsible choice to stop all on-site service. However, with our outdoor dine-in business accounting for nearly half of our sales from June through October, that was a gutsy move. And we are feeling it. That decision cost us about $4,500 in lost sales on Friday and Saturday combined. It’s a bitter pill to swallow. I’m feeling a little nervous and so are staff members. Fortunately, our warm-weather sales gave us a financial cushion… for now.

November 15, 2020

So, friends, I have news to share. Yes, I’ve been holding out on you. WE ARE EXPANDING! Crazy, right? I know. But when the going gets tough, well, the tough figure out their next move. And here is ours…

Tomorrow we are moving into the building next door, the place you may know as Jessica’s Apothecary. It is literally 19 feet from our back door. The 2-story building, built in 1900, is small and adorable, both inside and out.

December 1, 2020
Sarah Vaughn’s vocals drift through the speakers, the snow falls gently outside and I am comfortably lodged in the couch cushions in the living room of the house where I have lived since 1994. Those things feel normal and right. But if I look harder, very little feels right. It’s life in the time of COVID.

I am a strategist and a thinker and an organizer who loves a good challenge. I have stamina and energy and smarts. But COVID lately has me outflanked. Next moves are coming to me more slowly and with less confidence.

December 13, 2020
There is a daily log in the restaurant that staff read upon arrival. It outlines the day’s schedule, describes any specials on the menu, and contains notes about random tasks and projects. Lately at the top of the page it simply states “SIX FEET.” Since re-opening eleven days ago, “six feet” has become our mantra. Other terms in our current restaurant lexicon include: pods, teams, line buddies, socially distant work stations and KN95 masks. Such is restaurant life in the tenth month of coronavirus.

By most measures, we have made a successful comeback from our staff COVID cases and brief closure. Sales are brisk, thanks to all of you. Our team is leaner, more efficient and more focused. We have not yet had another COVID case – knock on wood. And if we do get another positive case, possible exposure to other staff members will be greatly limited.

January 3, 2021
Happy New Year everyone. 2020 is over, which is reason for hope. (goodbye wretched year!) Yet there is still great uncertainty. Even as we look forward to spring, we first have to survive the winter. Survival, on a community level, means coming together and helping the most vulnerable among us.

Many of us are now receiving stimulus checks. For some, the checks will arrive just in the nick of time. For others, the check will sit in our bank account. If you are in the latter category, CONSIDER DONATING YOUR STIMULUS CHECK. Make a gift to an organization that helps those who are homeless, hungry, or sick. That is my plan personally.

Here is my suggested list of recipient organizations in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti:

- Shelter Association of Washtenaw County

- Avalon Housing

- Food Gatherers

- Peace Neighborhood Center

- Ozone House

- Corner Health Center

- SOS Community Services

You may have a different favorite organization -- please, just give to it.

Now for an update on the restaurant:

February 6, 2021
If this pandemic were a Greek goddess I’d call it “Nemesis.” If this pandemic were a hurricane I’d say that we’re in the eye. If this pandemic were an insect, I’d urge it to get on with metamorphosis. If this pandemic were a song I’d call it “What’s Going On?” If this pandemic were a movie, it would star Bela Lugosi. If this pandemic were a business, I’d give it a 1* Yelp review. If I were to sum up my feelings about this pandemic I’d say “Enough already!”

December 29, 2021
I started writing this blog in April 2020 as a way to chronicle life during this special period. For a while my posts were more frequent; over time they have slowed. Maybe that’s because I’ve become less certain what to write; things change so quickly. It’s impossible to know if conditions are returning to normal, if they’re getting farther from normal, or what normal even means anymore.

My head spins; yours probably does too. We have been through nearly two years of a pandemic and all the accompanying stress. There was the final year of Trump, January 6th, police shootings and a vibrant Black Lives Matter movement and subsequent backlash. Climate change is proceeding at an alarming rate, evidenced by a spate of extreme weather events (when did the term “atmospheric river” enter our lexicon anyways?). A woman’s right to choose is in serious jeopardy. Pro-vaxxers and anti-vaxxers dig in and square off in increasingly hostile confrontations. Half of our country has outlawed pandemic-related mandates. Health care workers are crying for help and teachers are burning out from the stress of the youth mental health crisis and fears of COVID and school shootings.

And yet in some ways “normal” life proceeds. People get married, have babies, change jobs, and pursue their educational goals. We continue on with our daily routines – some altered more than others – and determine our level of risk comfortability associated with various activities. News photos of packed bars appear on the same sites as photos of overflowing emergency rooms. The contrast in realities is hard to reconcile.

A close friend recently told me that the key to a good yearly family newsletter is to talk about not just events, but feelings. I’m not sure if he would say the same about a blog post, but here goes. My feelings have been and continue to be a rollercoaster. I’m an activist, a news junkie, a mom, a business owner, and a participant. I care about people I know and people I don’t know. I take seriously my role in our democracy and probably have an over-inflated sense of my own power to effect change. I also believe in civility and listening to all viewpoints, and am deeply saddened about how polarized we have become and how viciously we attack those with whom we disagree. It bothers me that people will flirt with COVID and take unnecessary risks, expecting that our health care workers will fix us if we fall ill. My level of frustration with our current reality varies by the day.

There are things I can fix more easily than others. As much as I’d like to steer society in a different direction, my main sphere of influence is my business. I take seriously my job of safeguarding the special bubble in which 50 of us (between Detroit Street Filling Station and The Lunch Room Bakery & Cafe) spend our work lives. I do my best to keep everyone safe and healthy and employed, and to provide a safe experience for our customers. My goal is to not add even a single case to our overburdened health care system. I also want to note that our sphere of influence informally includes our neighbors, the staff Community High. We keep in touch and cheer them up from time to time. Give a big thanks to the healthcare workers and teachers in your life!

March 24, 2022
Jamais Vu: the intense feeling that the current circumstances are novel and strange, while objectively realizing that they have, indeed, been previously experienced.

Déjà Vu: The eerie feeling that you've been here and done this before.

The present moment feels like both: like we’ve been here before but don’t really remember it AND we haven’t been here before, but it sure feels like it!

Here we are ready to celebrate Hot Vax Summer Part Deux. Like last year’s version, the threat of rising case numbers lurks on the horizon. Mask requirements are gone. We’re OVER it – but is it over? Have we really been here before? Do our brains adapt to protect us when uncertainty becomes unbearable? At what point do our brains start to play tricks on us?