׉?ׁB!בCטFFu׉׉ 0s3://TrysWknTKMqZq6Hdwn5xnWwVISWoSlHO6d4sgWJkSjc(`׉ 0s3://XC7WfIQ-IwAI-IOlE81SW3cjFteATYmM5KpNavTNWwg͡y`h׉ 0s3://eqOomq9S8HonarJ1yeoMOJCHd_rzLIac2QKOo-PsAjA6`jjb3XuKcטFu׈w"׈Ejja3XuKc׉E2 $ OCTOBER 2, 2026 | VOLUME 17 | ISSUE 21 YOUR PURCHASE BENEFITS THE VENDORS. PLEASE BUY ONLY FROM BADGED VENDORS. Heads up! Ann Arbor is changing. page 3 MEET YOUR VENDOR: LEON ODOM PAGE 3 GROUNDCOVER NEWS AND SOLUTIONS FROM THE GROUND UP | WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICH. Local. Independent. Print. THIS PAPER WAS BOUGHT FROM Edition • Proposal: Housing-development accelerator • Charbonneau: Open your eyes to housing inequity. PAGE 4 @groundcovernews, include vendor name and vendor # ׉ 0s3://eqOomq9S8HonarJ1yeoMOJCHd_rzLIac2QKOo-PsAjA6`jja3XuKcjja3XuKc בCט u׉׉ 0s3://2txvkSYcFIMi_0_n2dMlczOr5pBAHcAy9kn-zgEKvBs`I׉ 0s3://TT_NWXylCKWjG0vd-xtI8R_TFB8ggfS-IS3G7iO7mg0$^`׉ 0s3://uy-AYOBNpWYXB4yIuvzcEIqjOUwGaEGsvXWf9ZEc1XYQ`jjb3XuKcєנjjb3XuKcЁ؁9׉Hhttp://www.groundcovernews.orgGׁ ׁ rנjjb3XuKc؁܁9ׁHhttp://www.groundcovernews.orgׁ ׁ Јנjjb3XuKcׁ 9ׁH"mailto:contact@groundcovernews.comׁ ׁ Јנjjb3XuKcցw!9ׁH&mailto:submissions@groundcovernews.comׁ ׁ Ј׉E 2 GROUNDCOVER NEWS GROUNDCOVER OCTOBER 2, 2026 PROVIDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR SELFDETERMINED INDIVIDUALS IMPACTED BY POVERTY, PRODUCING A STREET NEWSPAPER THAT GIVES A PLATFORM TO UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES IN WASHTENAW COUNTY, PROMOTING AN ACTION TO BUILD A JUST, CARING AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETY. Groundcover News, a 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in April 2010 as a means to empower lowincome persons to make the transitions from homeless to housed, and from jobless to employed. Vendors purchase each copy of our regular editions of Groundcover News at our office for 50 cents. This money goes towards production costs. Vendors work selling the paper on the street for $2, keeping all income and tips from each sale. Vendors are the main contributors to the paper, and are compensated to write and report. Street papers like Groundcover News exist in cities all over the United States, as well as in more than 40 other countries, in an effort to raise awareness of the plight of homeless people and combat the increase in poverty. Our paper is a proud member of the International Network of Street Papers. $15 STAFF Lindsay Calka — publisher Cynthia Price — editor Samantha Lay — intern Devin Spizz VOLUNTEERS ISSUE CONTRIBUTORS Elizabeth Bauman Ambreen Bonnet Brian Connolly Jay Cooper David Crane Terri Demar Jacob Fallman Mike Jones Jonas Meindl Ken Parks Snow Tommy Spaghetti Felicia Wilbert PROOFREADERS Susan Beckett Talbot Hack June Miller Anabel Sicko Jessi Averill Jacob Fallman Ben Foster Glenn Gates Barak Howell Robert Klingler Haniah Khan Aklesia Maereg Margaret Patston Adam Rizk Eleanor Snipes Mary Wisgerhof Max Wisgerhof BOARD of DIRECTORS Jacob Fallman Shelley DeNeve Jessi Averill Steve Borgsdorf Anna Gersh Jack Edelstein Greg Hoffman Glenn Gates Hailu Shitaye Felicia Wilbert CONTACT US Story and photo submissions: submissions@groundcovernews.com Advertising and partnerships: contact@groundcovernews.com Office: 423 S. 4th Ave., Ann Arbor Mon-Sat, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Phone: 734-263-2098 @groundcover @groundcovernews DONATE, LISTEN TO OLD ISSUES + LEARN MORE www.groundcovernews.org WAYS TO SUPPORT 1. Buy the paper, read the paper. 2. Get the word out — We rely on grassroots marketing. Talk to people about Groundcover and share us with your network. 3. Volunteer — You'll learn a lot about our vendors, the newspaper and your community. Interested in volunteering regularly? Fill out the form on our website. 4. Advertise your company, organization, event or resource — see rates below. 5. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram — promote our posts and share your favorite articles and vendor interactions. 6. Donate items — A seasonally appropriate list of items most needed at our office and on the street is available on our website. Drop off anytime we're open. ׉ 0s3://uy-AYOBNpWYXB4yIuvzcEIqjOUwGaEGsvXWf9ZEc1XYQ`jja3XuKc׉EKOCTOBER 2, 2026 ON MY CORNER MEET YOUR VENDOR SNOW Groundcover contributor It was a hot day. I sat down on Leon Odom, Groundcover vendor No. 500 In one sentence, who are you? I’m a person who is taking a direction with life that people don’t understand. If you were a character from a movie, book or TV show, who would you be and why? I don’t think I’d be anybody. I’d be myself. When you die, what do you want to be remembered for? Being myself and a good person. What book, show or movie that you have read/seen recently would you recommend, and why? Dictionary. You can learn a lot. If you could travel back in time, what time period would you travel back to and why? The 70s, everything was good growing up. If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be? Texas. If you could choose two famous people to have dinner with, who would they be? My mother and my grandmother. If you had to teach a class on one thing, what would you teach? Life. If you could give a piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be? Don’t be scared by change. Tell us about an experience or person that/who changed your life in some way(s). My mother. What is the reason you get up in the morning? God put me on the wake-up list, so I cannot make the same mistakes I made yesterday. What is something you would not want to change about yourself? My state of mind. What is your happiest memory from this past year? Change. the curb while waiting for the bus. Apparently, a bus that was going to be very late. At that moment, along came my next interviewee. The Uneasy Environmentalist presented a problem that became my focus for the entirety of a bus ride. She seemed frustrated about something. That was my feeling when I walked past her to wait for the bus. With a ten dollar bill in her hand, a mask on her face, and a firm set of pigtails, she whisked down the street past me in a melodramatic frenzy. As I was eating my salad, she waltzed over to me and asked me what was going on with the bus route. She then went on to vent a bit of her frustration to me, stating, “My phone and everything has been so messed up since I got back from Europe.” Now, I was curious! This lady just got back from Europe?! … I inquired, “Oh you were in Europe? What were you doing there?” We continued to dialogue and as I conversed with her, she began to expound to me about her struggles with being immuno-compromised, among other struggles, since returning to the States from Europe. I found irony and misfortune in this for her since she was such a brilliant lady, who had a very ostentatious career title that I honestly cannot recall in its entirety at the moment. In short, she is an environmental specialist whose line of work has led her to travel the world. She went on to tell me how she “has to leave her place of residence because it's infected with mold.” To which I responded, ”Oh, will you be able to find a new place on such short notice?” This seems like the only viable option for her regardless, because she is immuno-compromised so, of course, a mold-infested residence is not suitable for any extended amount of time in her current condition. Of course, in my inner dialogue, I am coming from a place of personally experiencing the housing limitation crisis in Washtenaw County. It's unfathomable to me GROUNDCOVER NEWS The uneasy environmentalist for someone to be struggling so profoundly. To be sick in the wake of a good cause. Adding a potential housing crisis to that makes the situation even more precarious for her. I resonate with the struggle I saw this woman having. Specifically due to how I emphatically experienced becoming very sick when first coming to Ann Arbor. In the waning stage of our elongated conversation, I expressed how I had gotten stranded in Ann Arbor and had COVID, a UTI and severe dehydration all at one time upon arriving in this city. This hit me like a flash flood, in parallel congruence to what she seems to have experienced upon arriving back. A talk with a stranger and a spontaneous conversation on a bus elicited attention that day for the everyday struggle we may all at times face. Be open; a precarious meeting may change your mind or life today to some degree or another. Or, if nothing more, you may make a difference just taking time to hear of the struggles someone else may face. 3 Heads up! Ann Arbor is changing TERRI DEMAR Groundcover vendor No. 322 Ann Arbor is going through growing pains. Although we are trying to modernize Ann Arbor like a bigger city, we might have to wait to see the direction it ends up in. They are making commercials to bring people back into the city. I’m going to treat Groundcover like it's the new Ann Arbor News. Because the Ann Arbor News will be strictly online starting in December. That’s what MLive announced. Ann Arbor is still in the process of growing. LIVE bar and the proposed 12-story development is a good example. They’re going to hold off on the development, for now. Watershed Hospitality Group, the restaurant group that owns Good Time Charley’s, Peridot and The Last Word, thinks that the lack of consistent foot traffic and flow of people coming into town for events could be a liability; it should be more consistent with traffic flow in the downtown area. It would be a bad look for the town because we are in the process of becoming a bigger city, and it is better to wait for more consistency. Surrounding businesses think that the building of the 12-story high rise will make prices higher until things stabilize. They will be back with serious consideration in one or two years when they break ground. Timing is everything. When they do build it, they’ll most likely have The Last Word on the top roof as a cocktail lounge, a coffee shop, Peridot might move there, and potentially other shops. Most of the building will be housing — Ann Arbor “affordable” housing (60% of Area Median Income) as well as market-rate apartments. The “affordable housing” is different from public housing; this will not be housing for people exiting houselessness but for people who have income but cannot pay market-rate rent for that area downtown. As far as Geezer Night, an event for seniors that have shaped this town to give them a place to go and chill and dance to rock’n’roll music by local musicians (now held at LIVE), there is a possibility that it will be at the Blind Pig if it has to move. This will be up to the booking manager. As of now The Blind Pig might not have the capacity to host such a large event, so they might have to make some upgrades. On September 8 the Ann Arbor City Council approved the sale of the “Kline’s lot” (S. Ashley and W. William) to a developer who plans to redevelop the lot for 450 market rate housing units and commercial space on the ground floor. One of my customers talked to me about how upset she is about losing the open parking. She told me that people who don’t live downtown rely on open parking lots as a safe place to park when they come to walk their dogs and enjoy downtown businesses. They don’t want to park in the parking garage. They like convenience and safety. Are we ready for these big transformations? jja3XuKcjja3XuKc בCט u׉׉ 0s3://rTNWGTZbNoC3lThpYbTZhWbqPuBTT_DcU_EgdOh_iPc `I׉ 0s3://8Dz076gUUuUxIva2Xtw_EOtaml_rt8R27GUekYE0UdE.`׉ 0s3://p7Iw4NOOSjlin7cgB1UPFGFMIz2NdrSIXws29rV4rCES`jjb3XuKcٖנjjb3XuKcԁzo}9׉H+http://linktr.ee/singingresistancewashtenawGׁ ׁ rנjjb3XuKcՁ̶9׉H+http://linktr.ee/singingresistancewashtenawGׁ ׁ rנjjb3XuKc߁ ;w̚9ׁHhttp://aadl.org/halloweenׁ ׁ Јנjjb3XuKcށ H9ׁHhttp://aadl.org/ׁ ׁ Јנjjb3XuKc݁ ;̩9ׁHhttp://aadl.org/wlbpd/applyׁ ׁ Јנjjb3XuKc܁sr̄9ׁHhttp://linktr.ee/singinׁ ׁ Ј׉E4 GROUNDCOVER NEWS STREET PAPERS President’s Letter – Greetings from Glasgow Greetings, Readers! My name is Jacob Fallman, the newly-elected Board President of Groundcover News. Please enjoy these updates from the August 31-September 3 INSP Global Summit in Glasgow, Scotland. We’re proud to celebrate Groundcover’s international reach and reputation with you. Groundcover News is a proud member of INSP, the International Network of Street Papers, which was founded in 1994. An international non-profit headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, INSP exists to support and develop street papers around the world. INSP’s membership includes 92 street papers, in 35 countries, published in 25 languages, who collectively provide over $20 million in yearly economic benefits to more than 5,500 global newspaper/magazine vendors. Summit participants were welcomed to Glasgow with a reception at Civic House, an event space housed inside a repurposed 1920s printworks. Guests enjoyed Scottish fare served by Social Bite, a socially-conscious eatery that provides jobs and housing support for local homeless people. It is hard to imagine a more fitting way to bring together street journalism professionals from as nearby as down the street or as far away as Taiwan. The bulk of Summit activities took place on the campus of Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU). Known as Scotland’s “University for the Common Good,” a highlight of the Summit was the announcement that GCU’s library agreed to host an archive of thousands of street papers from INSP members. Off campus, I was lucky to be included in a small group who visited the National Piping Centre where the bagpipes can be heard from blocks away. After some history and a brief tour of the museum, we were treated to an introductory piping lesson and even got the chance to play a full set of great highland bagpipes. Later that week, we returned to the Piping Centre for a traditional Scottish meal, featuring haggis and a generous array of scotch whisky to sample. Spreading knowledge, showing solidarity, securing the future There is something about being in a room with talented, passionate people who share your values that makes anything seem possible. That was the energy permeating the space as the global brain trust of street paper professionals came together to discuss how to meet the moment. Local experts and veteran INSP JACOB FALLMAN Board President took a project or an idea home with them that they would never have encountered if not for the summit. But even more importantly, each street paper was emboldened to pursue change. Our collective mission to end homelessness seemed as much of a goal to strive for as it was a dream we shared. In addition to sharing knowledge members facilitated discussions touching many topics of concern to street papers. One GCU professor who studied inequality presented on how different news outlets cover issues of poverty and shared evidence-based practices based on Scotland’s efforts to target child poverty. Other discussion leaders covered topics ranging from myths holding back street papers, responding to rising authoritarianism with good journalism, and how to find hope in the midst of hardship. Outside of the large group meetings, summiteers came together in small groups to address issues that were most pressing to their street paper. Some focused on fundraising, digitization, and creating alternative revenue streams to improve their paper’s financial stability. Others dug into issues addressing vendor support, like how to impart journalism skills to vendors or best practices for interacting with trauma and the criminal justice system. Across all these meetings, those attending the Global Summit showed their passion, creativity and determination. Each had a unique experience and contribution to offer, and each and learning new skills, summiteers convened in Glasgow with the additional purpose to make important decisions about the future of the INSP. Together we dug into finances, discussed the location of our global HQ, and planned for sustainably funding our operations into the future amidst uncertainty. The discussion that followed was critical, but collaborative. Thanks to our shared vision and purpose, we built consensus and agreed on a plan that all felt confident would allow INSP to continue its mission and support its members’ papers. A little about me As a law student at the University of Michigan, I encountered Groundcover News intermittently and purchased copies from vendors when I ran into them. But it was when I started to volunteer in 2024 that I truly began to appreciate the paper and what it does for our community. After being called to join the board last year and serving as Secretary under Board President Anna Gersh, I have been grateful for the welcoming environment and generous support of my fellow board members. I am honored by their vote of confidence in electing me to serve as our next Board President and for the opportunity they gave me to return to Glasgow. Almost exactly ten years prior to the 2026 Summit, I was at GCU as an international student on loan from Truman State University. Walking the streets of Glasgow took me back to good times studying at “Cali.” Passing by a familiar wooded hill, I remembered many times trudging up with pizza and beers in tow to visit my friends who lived at the top. Still there were the notoriously friendly Glaswegians who taught me as much about politics in the pubs as I have ever learned from my professors in the classroom. And just like last time, I found myself on the GCU campus being challenged by new and often radical ideas about media, economics and justice. The Times Ahead There are challenging times ahead for all of us. The greed of corporate elites and Trump’s unwise and undemocratic war in Iran have jeopardized economic security for all of us in the 99%. As we come together to weather the storms ahead, know that Groundcover News stands in solidarity with you. When the media becomes more topdown and closed off, we remain committed to uplifting the voice of the community. When people are more separated and captured by technology than ever, we will continue to fight back with real human connections and high-quality newsprint. When someone feels like there is no opportunity for them, we will be there to shine a light and hold out a hand. Thank you for engaging with our paper and for supporting our vendors. Everything that we do depends on you. OCTOBER 2, 2026 2026 INSP Summit attendees hold up their publications from around the world. Photos from Summit taken by Jack Donaghy ׉ 0s3://p7Iw4NOOSjlin7cgB1UPFGFMIz2NdrSIXws29rV4rCES`jja3XuKc׉EOCTOBER 2, 2026 MAKING CHANGE International Day of Peace was da bomb TOMMY SPAGHETTI Groundcover vendor No. 669 On Sunday, September 20, 60-80 citizens gathered in Liberty Plaza for a rainy United Nations International Day Of Peace. The first speaker was mayor-elect Yousef Rabhi. He spoke about the necessity of constant struggle for peace. Stephan Trendov reminded everyone that “only champions show up to compete in rain and snow.” Erick Brown gave a lengthy diatribe on the subject of ethanol. “If everybody used ethanol in their vehicles we wouldn’t need world conglomerate oil corporations who steal oil from Venezuela and Iran.” Odile Hugonot Haber emphasized the transition from a war economy to a PEACE ECONOMY as tantamount to ending all wars. Me Again Medicine Show got everyone moving in a dance game song. A passerby volunteered to stop and sing a Mongolian song in her native tongue. Stephan Trendov told stories about a Bulgarian mouse after WWII who found a couch in an abandoned building that came with a steady supply of food, the point of which was, “If you have something good, don’t tell anybody.” Griff’s Jam Band performed a music set with Kahina & Dougie Wougie. Griff plays a rack harmonica now while singing and playing acoustic guitar. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, the WCC Jazz Orchestra led by Steve Somers performed a lengthy set, playing and singing classic jazz tunes. This extremely large ensemble had a horn section. Esteban Morales sang, played guitar and percussion (not at the same time), Colleen sang and Bob Bullet was on drums. The last featured musical act was Mary and the Huzz Band. Eric Fithian donated his P.A. and tents for the day's activities. Scott Alf brought pizza from NYPD Singing resistance MIKE JONES Groundcover vendor No. 113 Fannie Lou Hamer helped to inspire singing resistance and emerged as one of the most influential grassroots leaders of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. She became nationally known for her leadership in voting rights and organization of the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party, as well as her powerful testimony against racial violence and disenfranchisement. Singing Resistance originated in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement. Minneapolis grassroots organizations expanded Singing Resistance nationwide after the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. They used communal songs to protest ICE and social injustice. The "Singing Resistance" is a grassroots, nonviolent nationwide movement that uses collective vocal protest and choral performance for social justice, community defense and anti-authoritarian dissent. In the Washtenaw County area, Singing Resistance Washtenaw, Singing Resistance Ann Arbor, and Singing Resistance Ypsilanti refer to local chapters of Singing Resistance. These singers perform in solidarity and protest with hymns and songs at regional rallies, civic demonstrations and local community spaces (including actions targeting detention centers and local data centers). Grounded in nonviolence, their main focus is to build community resilience against oppressive policies. Layla Ananda, a member of Singing Resistance Washtenaw, shared when, why and how she got involved in resistance singing. Ananda began resistance singing during the anti-Vietnam war protests in the early 70s and has been doing it ever since. Ananda explained that she felt the need to do something to resist the unjust state of affairs in this country during the 70s until this present moment, so she sings to express her feelings with others in solidarity for a better future. In March 2025, she started a monthly sing-along resistance group. And the very next winter in 2026, during the ICE “Operation Metro Surge” in Minneapolis, the local chapter, Singing Resistance Washtenaw, began to organize and sing at local rallies against injustice in and around Washtenaw County. They come together at different venues (local churches) once a month to learn and practice new songs mostly created and written by the Minneapolis chapter. “These singalongs help keep our spirits up and energize us to keep doing what we’re doing to make things better,” said Ananda. To learn more visit the Singing Resistance Linktree (linktr.ee/singingresistancewashtenaw) where you can also connect to their Facebook and Instagram. and it was nice to see so many peace activists together again as we traverse this ultra-violent rogue administration. Alan Haber provided tents, tables and chairs and wore a sign that demanded conversion from War to Peace. Alan spearheaded the annual event which has been going since 1958 when Alan co-founded SDS, Students for a Democratic Society. GROUNDCOVER NEWS What’s Happening at the Ann Arbor District Library Yousef Rabhi at Peace Day. Open 10am–8pm Daily Visit any of our five locations across town to browse books, magazines, newspapers, and more. Check out movies, CDs, art prints, musical instruments, or even home tools—you name it! Enjoy fast and free WiFi, study and meeting rooms, and plenty of comfortable spaces to relax or hang out. Washtenaw Library for the Blind & Print Disabled at AADL This free service loans books, magazines, & videos in alternative formats (audiobooks, large print, braille books & magazines, and descriptive video) to individuals who are unable to read or use standard printed materials. Visit aadl.org/wlbpd/apply to apply. Byte Club An exclusive club for AADL SUPER FANS and library people like you! Byte Club will help you connect deeper with the Library you know and love, and share special sneak peeks of new things coming soon. Ready to join? Visit aadl.org/ byteclub to get started. FEATURED EVENT 5 Halloween Costume Contest • Sunday, October 25 • Downtown Got a creative, cool, cute, or oneof-a-kind costume? Come dressed in your best to AADL’s annual costume contest! See the judges between 11:30 AM and 2 PM, then stick around for the award ceremony at 3 PM. Check out aadl.org/halloween for more! jja3XuKcjja3XuKc בCט u׉׉ 0s3://XtCtpTNwjzGwQHegdT14tbF2axVfl5L-u02RgZn_Mg4  `I׉ 0s3://1FShNGSuwMZLYIMGYcpSIXXvNa81yQuN3Npvi93TpCY/`׉ 0s3://S8e6Hcc96TnPg1vKsysK-2b71WsrJ9m68Bv3AlQUCqQTg`jji3XuKcנjjk3XuKd E9ׁHhttp://INSP.ngׁ ׁ Ј׉E^6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS INSP SUMMIT Felicia Wilbert and Jacob Fallman at the awards ceremony September 3. BRIAN CONNOLLY To mark the opening of the 2026 International Network of Street Papers Summit at Civic House, Glasgow — a former printing press — poet and friend of INSP Brian Connolly penned this original poem. Come away in. A world crossed waters and arrived here with a wave Delegate report from Glasgow INSP Summit FELICIA WILBERT Groundcover vendor No. 234 bership The INSP is a global nonprofit membased organization in Glasgow, Scotland. CEO Mike Findlay and Sarah Britz, Chair of the INSP Board of Directors, worked together to create this elaborate biannual gathering. The conference unites and supports street papers addressing poverty and homelessness. The Glasgow Caledonian University, along with the Social Hub Hotel, hosted this special four-day event. GCU, located on Cowcaddens Road, catered a tasty lunch every day of the conference. The Social Hub is a classy hotel with a flair of chic modernization; their continental breakfast was a delicious all-you-can-eat buffet. Yes, the Scottish food is different. No, I did not try the haggis or black pudding! Monday, August 31, the first day of the activities, included a trip to the Shamanic Kinetic Museum. The shaman is a man with creativity and design. A short story was told during the presentation of each piece of art work. His artworks are made out of wood and steel that was discarded as trash. They are very interesting works of art that light up and have moving parts. That evening was our welcome event hosted at Glasgow’s Civic House. This magnificent piece of history started life as a Civic Press in the 1920s. It now hosts a dynamic range of activities, from co-working festivals to workshops. Tuesday, September 1, I participated on a panel titled "Opening up Journalism to Marginalized People." I answered three questions: 1. What training can you put in place to support lived experience voices to be heard through the street paper movement? You can help create a writing and storytelling workshop or a photography and video workshop. 2. How can you use special editions to do this? By giving a dedicated platform written and illustrated by the participants. 3. How can you remove barriers, giving over more space to lived experienced voices in the regular street paper? Add extra printing space ensuring a platform. After the conference that day we were free to sight-see; however, it was rainy, cool and dark. I chose to rest. Wednesday covered ways to keep the street papers alive with all the digital technology compeition. The solution I support is to inform and educate the next generation on the importance of a tangible document. Later that evening we met at the astonishing 300-year-old piping heritage museum, The National Piping Centre, for a formal dinner and whiskey tasting, accompanied by a live band, The Tenementals. The rich history of the museum was breathtaking and the band was astounding. Thursday, the last day of the conference, we learned ways to upcycle old street papers. Everyone was excited to learn how to create art from recycled papers; a process I hope we can implement here. The best was saved for last: the award ceremony. Showcased at the Social Hub, it was a true testament of the dedicated vendors and contributors whose work has not been unnoticed by the INSP. This ceremony was a great gesture of recognition. Yes, Groundcover was nominated for Best Vendor Support Program; however, we lost to a very worthy candidate, Apropos, from Salzburg, Austria. At the end of the week, the takeaway of the conference was an understanding that teamwork and perseverance can launch a street paper. However, only readers can circulation. keep it in along the Clyde. Stand here in a room that remembers. All pressed together in this dear green place. Walls once a press. Ink and iron and the clatter of the plate, the daily pressing of words to paper. So, we return to the press to speak about our papers, back to the pitch to speak about the pitch, the corner where a vendor holds a headline in hand. This is the core of it, the twin thing, the double meaning folded in fold. The paper as a story and the paper as a wage. An issue is a problem, and an issue is the lift out of it. A pitch is a patch of pavement, and a pitch is a soft plea. A sale is a sale, and a sale is being seen. Every soul on every sole of every worn-through shoe, every story of this city stacked with stories, every reader who stops, who reads, who takes the paper and hands back the human. That is the work. That is the whole of it. The press is under pressure, truth is taxed and trust runs thin. Yet here stands proof the printed word still pays its way, still puts the mighty on the spot, still puts a wage in working hands. Proof the press still finds a home for those who seek shelter. So come away in and we’ll send you home with a haste ye back. Read all about us. Courtesy of INSP.ngo OCTOBER 2, 2026 Word on the street voting is now open! Please vote for us. Our categories are... Best Podcast: GROUNDCOVER SPEAKS Best Nonproft: GROUNDCOVER NEWS NOMINATIONS OPEN! SEPT 1 THRU OCT 15 Log on & VOTE! ecurrent.com ׉ 0s3://S8e6Hcc96TnPg1vKsysK-2b71WsrJ9m68Bv3AlQUCqQTg`jja3XuKc׉E!OCTOBER 2, 2026 STREET PAPERS JONAS MEINDL Trott-war A notification flashes up on my computer. “Arturo Soto would like to join the video conference.” I click on “Accept,” and almost immediately the smiling face of the head of the social affairs department at the Mexican street paper Mi Valedor appears on my screen. “Hi there, how’s it going?” I say. And it is precisely ‘how’s it going’ for the newspaper, the vendors and the people of Mexico City that Soto explains to me during our conversation. Mi Valedor describes itself as a social project. Since 2015, Mexico’s only street paper to date has been working to integrate socially disadvantaged people into society and the labor market. Through its articles and, above all, a rich array of images, including photographs from different eras, drawings and prints, Mi Valedor explores life and culture in Mexico City. A new issue is published roughly every three months with a print run of 5,000 copies and, much like Trott-war, its content comes from a wide variety of contributors: staff members, volunteers, photographers, freelance journalists and, of course, the vendors, the Valedores. Who are the Valedores? This slang term from Mexico City refers to people who value others and don’t let them down: supporters and friends. Valedores: that’s what the street paper vendors call themselves. Valedores are people whose lives revolve around the streets, people who are affected by unemployment and discrimination on the grounds of their age, gender or disability. “Some Valedores are illiterate, whilst others have PhDs. If there’s one thing that never ceases to impress me, it’s the diversity of the street,” says Soto. In one respect, however, this diversity has declined. Most of the vendors are now Mexican. “There used to be more Valedores with a migrant background. The situation has changed significantly, partly due to Donald Trump’s restrictive immigration policy.” The number of Valedores has multiplied in recent years. There are currently 51 people who earn part of their livelihood in this way. As independent vendors, they buy copies for 10 pesos [around $0.60 USD] each and sell them for 50 pesos [around $3.50]. If you’re familiar with other street papers, this sales model might seem familiar to you. However, there is also one major difference. “In the past, the Valedores mainly sold the newspaper on the streets. Then the pandemic hit. Sales plummeted,” explains Soto. Nowadays, the majority of sales take place at book fairs, at events in museums and galleries, and at other cultural events. Due to the newspaper’s artistic GROUNDCOVER NEWS Thinking outside the box: street papers in Latin America focus, this is exactly where it reaches the right audience. “As well as the regular newspaper, we now also offer special editions and books written by the Valedores, and we sell items such as our own illustrations, jute bags, stickers and T-shirts.” The change in strategy is raising the newspaper’s profile. "We’ve even been invited to a book fair in Los Angeles this year,” Soto explained. Although the sales process may now be different, the aims behind it have remained the same: to offer people on the margins of society career and personal prospects, to help them help themselves, and to promote their independence. Mi Valedor therefore provides the newspaper’s vendors with a wide range of support. “Many of our Valedores do not have identity documents. Yet these are essential for participating in society, finding work or securing accommodation. We therefore support our vendors on what can sometimes be a long and bureaucratic journey towards obtaining new documents,” explains Soto. However, there are also self-help groups, career advice and medical and psychological support available. “Workshops are also held every day in our meeting room: group yoga, photography or computer courses and drawing classes.” Soto explains that there are several organizations in Mexico City that provide people experiencing homelessness with a place to sleep at night. Mi Valedor makes sure that there’s always plenty of activities on offer during the day as well. The logic is simple: anyone learning with the Valedores doesn’t have to be out on the street. From Mexico to Bogotá If you were to pack your bags in Mexico City and travel over 3,000 km southeast on a four-and-a-half-hour flight, you would find an organization that pursues very similar aims to Mi Valedor. In the heart of the Colombian capital, Bogotá, the Fundación Procrear has been working for almost 30 years to — as it puts it — alleviate social suffering. What began in the late 1990s as a drug prevention project gradually developed into a permanent point of contact for those seeking protection 7 and a hub for social projects. Does a young person need support at school? Has a girl been a victim of sexual violence and is in need of psychological counselling? Is a trans person experiencing discrimination and wanting to find out about their rights? Through its day-to-day work in the field, in workshops, training programs and theme days, as well as online via its podcast and YouTube channel, Fundación Procrear does all this and much more. Since 2009, the charity has also been publishing a street paper. Since then, Revista La Calle (The Street Magazine) has evolved from a local newsletter into a comprehensive publication covering topics such as public health, sexual and reproductive rights, responsible and non-violent models of masculinity, migration and the realities of life on the streets. “Today, just as back then, we want to listen to and give a voice to people who are not represented in mainstream media,” says editor-in-chief Juan Carlos Celis González. The aim is to highlight what would otherwise be overlooked. This includes, for instance, the story of the Revista La Calle vendor at the entrance to the Javeriana University in Bogotá, a thief’s account of his feelings while committing an offence, and stories from artists who display their work on the street. But how does Revista La Calle actually reach its audience? Like Mi Valedor in Mexico, the magazine relies not only on street sales but also on social events and gatherings. “When the magazine was founded, its main aim was to create a dignified alternative to begging. Later on, aspects such as social integration and further education were added,” explains Milena Santafé, the managing-editor. “Our vendors are now directly connected to the Fundación Procrear. In addition to their wages, we can also offer them help with finding accommodation, obtaining food and clothing, and support in overcoming difficult life situations.” What unites us However, just as in Germany, the world is also becoming more digital in the Americas. And more expensive. “Due to a lack of funding, it’s becoming harder to keep the journal going,” explains Celis González. They are currently trialling a digital format. The editor-in-chief emphasizes: "We’d like to have more permanent vendors. We hope that they will earn a decent income from sales and receive appropriate recognition for their work.” And for Mexico’s only street paper too, concerns about funding are ever present. “As an independent organization, we rely on people’s goodwill, on people who are willing to donate,” explains Soto, looking concerned, towards the end of our video conference. It’s very complex to make such a project financially viable, and there is a growing focus on the digital sector. “We pay close attention to our social media channels and also manage our website very closely. But digital media will not replace print. We’re currently trying to strike a balance.” At the end of the video conference, what remains above all are stories — from Mexico City, from Bogotá and, finally, from Stuttgart too. For here, too, we are faced with the question of how we can survive in a world that is becoming increasingly digital, more expensive and more complex; how we strike a balance between progress and humanity. The distances are great, the differences are clear, but looking beyond our own horizons also makes it clear that social exclusion is not a local phenomenon. Neither, however, is it the power of solidarity. Street papers all over the world demonstrate precisely that writing can be more than just putting words on paper or on a screen. It can connect people, raise awareness and bring about change. Perhaps that is the most important message that remains once the screen goes dark again. English translation via Translators Without Borders. Courtesy of Trott-war / INSP.ngo jja3XuKcjja3XuKc בCט u׉׉ 0s3://Yd9YOdqSrXvUxnanWmthQy36PR1SlVe9H0WSMvdb8bwK`I׉ 0s3://IutCI9vHht-wLVC8AzAUt9cAHbVf5YUBnWpMOVcGb7o `׉ 0s3://veINCTiMS9X9OdoZ7U8LzvQuqijMKRdILKW6QN8mipIM`jjj3XuKcנjjj3XuKc G9ׁHhttp://INSP.ngׁ ׁ Ј׉EI8 GROUNDCOVER NEWS INSP SUMMIT INSP Awards 2026: shortlist and winners BRONTE SCHILTZ International Network of Street Papers On September 3, at the close of this year’s INSP Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, delegates gathered in the theater of the Social Hub hotel for the 2026 INSP Awards. The ceremony recognized street papers’ accomplishments across six categories: Best Article/Journalism, Best Cover, Best Campaign, Best Photo, Best Vendor Article or Contribution and Best Vendor Support Project. This year’s awards were judged by Angus Dixon, Head of Department of Creative Industries at Glasgow Caledonian University, who hosted the Summit; Colin Leslie, Head of External Relations at Scottish Veterans Residences; Jem Collins, Founder and Director at Journo Resources; and Dr. Owen Clayton, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Lincoln. Best Article/Journalism: The Contributor and Curbside Chronicle The Best Article category focuses on storytelling, research and journalistic integrity, narrative depth, structure, language and tone. The shortlist featured “A Forewarned Disaster” by =Oslo, on the rise of illegal drug use in Ukraine; “Goldenstein Is Here to Stay!” by Augustin, about three nuns who fled a care home to live in an abandoned convent; “Remembering Old Tent City” by The Contributor, about the final days of a 40-year-long encampment in Nashville, Tennessee; and “Eating Matters” by Curbside Chronicle, an investigation into vendors’ experience of food insecurity. The award was given jointly to The Contributor and Curbside Chronicle. “Being an INSP award judge was an honor and hugely humbling. There is so much talent in the global street paper community! I loved viewing all the different submissions. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was picking a winner, because it feels unfair to all the other amazing entrants,” said Owen Clayton. Best Cover: Liceulice and StreetWise The Best Cover category focuses on visual impact at the point of sale, headline integration, typography, readability and emotional pull. The shortlist featured Liceulice, Faktum, Asfalt, Mi Valedor, Hus Forbi and StreetWise. The award was given jointly to Liceulice, for a cover featuring an army of Pikachus attacking a giant cyborg, a symbol of youth resistance, and to StreetWise, for a cover featuring African American Olympic athletes for Black History Month. Best Campaign: =Oslo The Best Campaign category focuses on strategic clarity, creative concept, community engagement, audience activation and evidence of impact. The shortlist featured ‘A Place to Be’ by =Oslo, a play produced by =Oslo and Nordic Black Theatre for =Oslo’s 20th anniversary; ‘The ReHecho Project’ by Mi Valedor, a collaboration with Puerto Rican artist Daniela Fabrizi; ‘Home Is Where Your Heart Is’ by Street Sheet, a project organizing San Franciscans living in vehicles; Hus Forbi’s campaign to secure digital payments for vendors; Surprise’s women’s Streetfootball Euro 2025 tournament in Basel; and Asfalt’s work on combatting misconceptions about vendors. The award went to =Oslo. “It’s been a real pleasure to take part in INSP judging this year (and I’m not just saying that). In a journalism industry that’s under immense pressure, it’s been incredibly heartening to see such a range and depth of impactful reporting and campaigns that make a real difference to real people’s lives. This is a very special network,” said Jem Collins. Best Photo: Hus Forbi and Mi Valedor The Best Photo category focuses on composition, light, visual storytelling, emotional impact and the dignity of the people represented. The shortlist featured Faktum, Mi Valedor, =Oslo and Hus Forbi. The award was given jointly to Hus Forbi, for a photo of Britta, one of the paper’s longest-serving vendors (pictured bottom left), and Mi Valedor, for a photo of elderly corn farmer Juana Segundo from a piece on food sovereignty (pictured bottom right). “It was an honor and a privilege to join this year’s judging panel. The creativity, diversity and humanity among the entries was thought-provoking, inspiring and — as the title says — international! So many entries were of the highest caliber that it made judging a tough task, so the highest kudos to those who have been recognized with awards. All entrants should be immensely proud of the work they do and the communities they represent,” said Colin Leslie. Best Vendor Article or Contribution: The Contributor The Best Vendor Article or Contribution category focuses on authentic vendor voice, lived experience, personal perspective, dignity, agency and empowerment. The shortlist featured “The Paperdoll Rebellion — A Hidden Story” by LS Abell at The Contributor, about making zines while experiencing homelessness; “Last Station Shelter” by Marija Krajnalic at Liceulice, about a devastating experience inside Belgrade’s Shelter for Adults and Elderly People; “What Nationality Are You? I’m A D-D-Drug Addict!” by a vendor at Kralji ulice on their experience of addiction; and “Would we die this early if we were in any other group?’”by Wendell William at Street Sense Media on the early deaths of vendors and other people experiencing homelessness in DC. The award went to The Contributor. “The awards just show how great street papers are all over the world — the standard and variety of the work has been exceptional. From artful humorous collage to hard-hitting social commentary and moving first person testimony, it’s all there. It’s just a shame we can’t reward everyone,” said Angus Dixon. Best Vendor Support Project: Apropos The Best Vendor Support Project category focuses on practical value for vendors, accessibility, innovation, sustainability and tangible positive outcomes. The shortlist featured Apropos for their cookbook, Apropos: Favorite Recipes!; Kralji ulice for their vendor support services; Groundcover News for their journalism mentoring program; Faktum for their work on improving dental care through partnerships; and see AWARDS next page  Award winners pictured above. Mike Findlay, INSP CEO, gives opening remarks. OCTOBER 2, 2026 ׉ 0s3://veINCTiMS9X9OdoZ7U8LzvQuqijMKRdILKW6QN8mipIM`jja3XuKc׉EuOCTOBER 2, 2026 INSP SUMMIT One Voice, One Night AMBREEN BONNET To close the INSP Awards 2026 in Glasgow, poet Ambreen Bonnet penned this original poem. I need you to hear me. Not because I have all the answers, but because I have lived the questions. I have known what it feels like to have nowhere to call home, to carry your life while trying to carry yourself. I have known the silence that comes when people look at you but do not truly see you. So when I speak about homelessness, I am not speaking from a distance. I am speaking from memory. From experience. From the places that changed me. My words matter because they were born where statistics cannot reach. I survived being homeless. Now I use my voice so nobody has to disappear inside their story. Tonight, I do not stand here to tell you my story for sympathy. I stand here because homelessness taught me things I could never have learned from a book. It taught me that behind every statistic is a human being. Behind every closed door there is a story. Behind every person we call homeless there is a life that existed long before the word homelessness was ever attached to it. And tonight, I look around this room and I see something different. I see people who refused to look  AWARDS from last page bodo for their comic workshops for vendors, led by Ika Sperling. The award went to Apropos. INSP would like to thank each and every entrant for making the time and effort to enter into this year’s Awards, and to congratulate you for showcasing the incredible work of the street paper away. I see nominees whose work, courage and compassion have made a difference. I see winners who remind us that change is possible when people care enough to keep showing up. So tonight is not about me. Tonight is about you. The people who write the stories. The people who sell the papers. The people who create opportunities. The people who listen. The people who advocate. The people who stand beside someone when the rest of the world has walked past. Tonight, we do not celebrate the easy. We celebrate the impossible days, the doors that stayed closed, the nights that felt endless, the moments when hope was almost too heavy to carry. We celebrate the people who kept walking when they had nowhere to go. The voices that refused to disappear. The stories that refused to be forgotten. The hands that reached out when the world had turned away. Tonight, we celebrate the courage to stand beside someone not because their journey is easy, but because it isn't. We celebrate every street paper, every vendor, every writer, every worker, every volunteer, every person who said: You matter. Your story matters. Your voice matters. Because changing lives is rarely glamorous. It is persistence. It is patience. It is showing up again tomorrow. It is believing in someone's future when they have forgotten how. Homelessness taught me that dignity is not something you earn by having a home. It is something you are born with. It taught me that sometimes the greatest gift you can give another human being is simply to see them. Really see them. To ask their name. To hear their story. To believe them. And perhaps most importantly, homelessness taught me the power of a voice. Because when you have lost almost everything, your voice can still remain. And when someone listens, that voice can become powerful. So tonight, I lend mine to this room. Not to remind you of homelessness, but to remind you why the work you do matters. Under these lights, we honor those who do the hard work of bringing light to places the world too often leaves in darkness. These awards are not simply trophies. They are reminders. That compassion is powerful. That dignity is revolutionary. That a voice can become a doorway. That one person can become a turning point. Every nomination represents someone who cared enough to make a difference. movement. You made the decisions for the judges very difficult! Editor's note: Groundcover News nominated Steven's March 7, 2025 article "Travels with Dreamer: The girl in the shiny green dress" for the Best Vendor Article. We nominated Marie's January 24, 2025 article "Warning: homeless people at work" for Best Article/ Journalism. Every award represents courage, commitment and compassion. And every person in this room has the opportunity to change someone's story. So let us celebrate the victories, but remember what they cost. The courage. The resilience. The tears. The countless moments when giving up would have been easier. Because sometimes the most extraordinary achievement is simply refusing to give up on another human being. --A home can give you a roof. But dignity, compassion, opportunity and being truly seen can give you something even more powerful — the feeling that you belong. Tonight, we celebrate the nominees. We celebrate the winners. We celebrate the people behind the work. And we celebrate something even bigger: The belief that no human being should ever be reduced to the worst chapter of their life. Tonight, we celebrate the people who help others find their way back there. Tonight, we celebrate that. Tonight, we celebrate them. Tonight, we celebrate you. Courtesy of INSP.ngo Ambreen Bonnet GROUNDCOVER NEWS 9 jja3XuKcjja3XuKc בCט u׉׉ 0s3://NkTRO0AXETkSAq6QSwBuVwKrd8eUC0EcYMwd7PxB_KQ &`I׉ 0s3://Ef2w5YpYnnGVWHRdz81tczNCFZ8S1RBoHzVjzHekiTQ%r`׉ 0s3://PbGxyAsf54eCoC60OvTmLtyIYdfIFNEIet40tPi9kxwQ0`jjj3XuKcנjjj3XuKclǁ9׉H!http://arts.umich.edu/fest-eventsGׁ ׁ rנjjj3XuKc̽ρ̌9׉H http://www.dexterlions.org/news/Gׁ ׁ rנjjj3XuKc=R9׉H http://www.dexterlions.org/news/Gׁ ׁ rנjjj3XuKc؁̪9׉Hhttp://www.aacomedy.com/Gׁ ׁ rנjjj3XuKc܁Z9׉H;https://clements.umich.edu/event/1776-to-the-ballot-box/%20Gׁ ׁ rנjjj3XuKc̒9׉H;https://clements.umich.edu/event/1776-to-the-ballot-box/%20Gׁ ׁ rנjjj3XuKc9׉H;https://clements.umich.edu/event/1776-to-the-ballot-box/%20Gׁ ׁ rנjjk3XuKd ܁̪9ׁHhttp://goldenruleproject.orgׁ ׁ Ј׉E10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS COMMUNITY EVENTS community EVENTS MICHIGAN ARTS FESTIVAL October 1-31, events across University of Michigan's Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses. A month-long celebration of the arts. Expect performances, exhibitions, workshops and community events, all aimed at connecting students, staff, faculty and the wider community to Michigan Arts throughout the year. See full schedule at arts.umich.edu/fest-events FIRST FRIDAYS YPSI Friday, October 2, 5-11p.m. Downtown, Depot Town, and in the West Cross Street districts of Ypsilanti. A self-guided art and culture walk around the city of Ypsilanti! Art, shopping, food, music and fun! October theme: Ypsiween. 2026 APPLE DAZE Saturday, October 3, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monument Park, 3236 Central St, Dexter. A full day of family fun, live entertainment, classic cars, food, activities and community! Bring the whole family and enjoy: classic car show, live music, pie-eating contest, wagon rides, bounce house, pumpkin bowling, putt-putt golf, kids games and activities, FREE Kidsight Vision Screening, food, fall fun and more! Full schedule at www.dexterlions. org/news/ TATTOO ART FEST 2026 Sunday, October 4, 11 a.m-4 p.m. Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave, Ann Arbor. A celebration of tattooers and the art that they make. Join us for talks and demos by local tattooers as well as a vendor fair featuring tattooers' merch and art in a variety of mediums. Groundcover Vendor Code While Groundcover is a non-profit, and paper vendors are self-employed contractors, we still have expectations of how vendors should conduct themselves while selling and representing the paper. The following is our Vendor Code of Conduct, which every vendor reads and signs before receiving a badge and papers. We request that if you discover a vendor violating any tenets of the Code, please contact us and provide as many details as possible. Our paper and our vendors should be positively impacting our County. • Groundcover will be distributed for a voluntary donation. I agree not HOLY BONES FESTIVAL Sunday, October 4, 1-7 p.m. Michigan Firehouse Museum, 110 W. Cross St, Ypsilanti. Centered entirely around the alluring themes of "Magic, Mischief, and Mystery," this event features an expansive lineup of 65 independent artisans, makers, and creators showcasing their work across two floors of the museum. Expect a vibrant showcase of original handmade art, dark aesthetics and unique oddities. Come explore the historic firehouse and find something strange and unusual to take home. SIP AND SOLVE Sunday, October 4, 6 p.m. 734 Brewing, 15 E Cross St. Ypsilanti. Join for a fast-paced word puzzle showdown where every guess counts and all proceeds fund adult literacy! First Sunday of each month. All proceeds benefit Washtenaw Literacy. $10 per person, teams of 1-5. COMEDY NERDZ AND COMEDY JAMM OPEN MIC Wednesday, October 7, 7:15-8:45 p.m. Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase, 212 S. Fourth Ave. The open mic will be a comedy cavalcade as we present the current rising stars in the Detroit Metro area and beyond. You will see a variety of comedians from beginners trying their hand at comedy (sometimes they are the funniest) to established comics unveiling new material to the occasional comedian auditioning to perform at the Comedy Showcase. Anything can happen as we present this uncensored cacophony of comedy … and a good time will be had by all! Tickets are just $6 at the door. Tickets are also available online to ask for more than the cover price or solicit donations by any other means. • When selling Groundcover, I will always have the current biweekly issue of Groundcover available for customer purchase. • I agree not to sell additional goods or products when selling the paper or to panhandle, including panhandling with only one paper or selling an issue more than 4 weeks old. • I will wear and display my badge when selling papers and refrain from wearing it or other Groundcover gear when engaged in other activities. • I will only purchase the paper from Groundcover Staff and will not sell to or buy papers from other Groundcover vendors, especially at www.aacomedy.com/ A2 ARTOBERFEST Saturday, October 10, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, October 11, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Main St. (Washington to William Street) downtown Ann Arbor. A2 Artoberfest is a celebration of the arts in downtown Ann Arbor. This intimate and rich event will feature jury selected artists, live entertainment, restaurants and art activities. Shop and savor the beautiful fall weather, talented artisans and wonderful tunes. Get creative with several local partners bringing you hands-on art-making activities to this fun and festive event! VENDOR KEN PARKS' 84TH BIRTHDAY PARTY Sunday, October 11, 4 p.m.-7 p.m. Ann Arbor Friends Meeting House, 1420 Hill St., Ann Arbor. Ken Parks is turning 84! Join the Groundcover community and friends for a potluck and film screening of "Paper Lanterns." Movie will start at 5 p.m. PORTER'S PLACE GRAND OPENING Sunday, October 11, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Dunbar Towers, 121 Catherine St., Ann Arbor. Porter's Place is the community center on the first floor of newly constructed Dunbar Tower. Building tours, free food trucks, art and storytelling, family acitivities and more. Community remarks start at 5 p.m. FROM 1776 TO THE BALLOT BOX Monday, October 12, 6-8 p.m. William L. Clements Library, 909 S University Ave, Ann Arbor. vendors who have been suspended or terminated. • I agree to treat all customers, staff, and other vendors respectfully. I will not “hard sell,” threaten, harass or pressure customers, staff, or other vendors verbally or physically. • I will not sell Groundcover under the influence of drugs or alcohol. • I understand that I am not a legal - employee of Groundcover but a contracted worker responsible for my own well-being and income. • I understand that my badge is property of Groundcover and will not deface it. I will present my badge when purchasing the papers. • I agree to stay off private property when selling Groundcover. • I understand to refrain from Join the staff of the Clements Library and the U-M History Club to learn about American voting history and the Revolutionary War-era materials held on central campus. Peruse the exhibit “Who Counts? A History of Voting in America,” develop a voting plan for this November with students from Turn Up Turnout, and play a game of Jeopardy to test your knowledge on voting and Revolutionary War history while snacking on pizza! Register here: https://clements.umich.edu/ event/1776-to-the-ballot-box/ "OUT HERE" SCREENING AND DIRECTOR Q+A Wednesday, October 14, 6-7:30 p.m. AADL downtown (Lower level program room) 343 5th Street, Ann Arbor. OUT HERE is a documentary short that chronicles the poignant quest of a Sacramento social worker on the front lines of the homelessness crisis who attempts to help unhoused individuals through empathy and interpersonal connection. This 28-minute film is not rated. This event is in partnership with Michigan Community Scholars Program and Groundcover News. Save the date! Groundcover's annual open mic will be Friday, November 20, 6-8 p.m. Location TBD! Submit an event to be featured in the next edition: submissions@groundcovernews. com OCTOBER 2, 2026 selling on public buses, federal property or stores unless there is permission from the owner. • I agree to stay at least one block away from another vendor in downtown areas. I will also abide by the Vendor Corner Policy. • I understand that Groundcover strives to be a paper that covers topics of homelessness and poverty while providing sources of income for the homeless. I will try to help in this effort and spread the word. If you would like to report a violation of the Vendor Code or leave positive review of a Vendor experience please email contact@ groundcovernews.com or fill out the contact form on our website. ׉ 0s3://PbGxyAsf54eCoC60OvTmLtyIYdfIFNEIet40tPi9kxwQ0`jja3XuKc׉EOCTOBER 2, 2026 COMMUNITY EVENTS Following through If you’re aiming for a basketball hoop, your chances improve if you know how to follow through. Visualize your hand going to the basket with the ball. Likewise, if you want to succeed in your plans, do a mental shot of completion and move in that direction. Ask for help to meet your goal. Sometimes your idea is gifted to you wrapped with a ribbon. Groundcover is a community of volunteer workers who want you to succeed. I asked Groundcover volunteer Luiza to help with not only the venue at Friends Meeting House, but also the film showing of “Paper Lanterns.” Her skill and dedication is the best gift for the completion of my 84th birthday celebration on Sunday October 11, from 4-7 p.m. We will share in the interrelated reality that gives rise to an authentic experience of the love we find in our hearts. If you follow through until that love is a habit, you will be a peacemaker, creating the world we want to live in. International Day of Peace this past September 20 was just such an event. The music, dance and open mic are still spreading love across the cosmos. Once again I was inspired to sing KEN PARKS Groundcover vendor No. 490 “Neverending Love,” dedicated to the musicians in particular. Music and dance are the natural intelligence of body, speech and mind that dwarf anything coming from artificial intelligence. Argus Farm Stop has an annual conference to follow through on their slogan “the future is local.” It will be March 29-31, 2027. Learning to be fully present is the great lesson before us now. As history implodes around us, victory will go to those who experience the seamless nature of past, present and future. Timeless time becomes our true home and we will want to do what needs to be done. Children are happy to see adults who know what they are doing and can smile in the face of adversity. We have pretty well changed Columbus Day into Indigenous Peoples' Day. Let’s continue on that path. The month of November is Indigenous Month. The Native American Student Association is working with theTrotter Multicultural Center at the University of Michigan. They are working on events. Go to their website and keep an eye on the community events calendar in Groundcover News. If we invite Lyla June Johnson for Indigenous Week or listen to her song “All Nations Rise,” we will experience the power of indigenous sovereignty. Standing Rock was a decisive event in 2016 as thousands came together at Oceti Sakowin, a self-governing village, to stop the Keystone Pipeline. Those veterans are everywhere. Beatrice Menase Kwe Jackson is in Michigan and is active on Facebook. She did a post on the Medewewin Lodge Grandmothers’ march across the Mackinaw Bridge on Labor Day. She also came from the UP to do the Water Ceremony on the Detroit River when the Golden Rule sailboat was here. That boat is an international miracle organized by Veterans For Peace (VFP). Go to goldenruleproject.org to learn more. Veterans Day is November 11. November 10 is the annual songfest fundraiser at the Ark. That event supports students who have chosen peace studies. Detroit and Ann Arbor VFP collaborate on that. They are planning an event at the bell tower of U-M on November 11. Details are available on websites and community calendars. Some things happen and our plans adjust, as in Winter solstice. Christmas and New Year celebrate that the sun does not die and the Light of the World is born again — we have another year. Let us breathe with our heart and core center. Our core is just below the navel, what natural healers call our second brain. Learning a natural breath is a breakthrough in mind training. When a natural breath becomes a habit you will progress on the path of awakening and be welcomed by the countless Buddhas and bodhisattvas who surround us on the journey. The adventure continues. Hasta la victoria siempre, towards victory always, the phrase I learned in Cuba! GROUNDCOVER NEWS 11 jja3XuKcƁjja3XuKcŁ בCט u׉׉ 0s3://dxRC_3tT6zTxv4KXizUDsEGeVUzvmr71BcYa3X0EP6c /`I׉ 0s3://Li4apEGphbtWO__G5flCC5Zc98n_zs2Dct08dCyshGs*`׉ 0s3://kpwoSAsXJ94lUOCXJ5EmXpmNFL59TQNB36eb0XoEXXUM`jjj3XuKc׉E12 GROUNDCOVER NEWS TECHNOLOGY OCTOBER 2, 2026 Graphics cards aren't going to kick your door in, fascists are JAY COOPER Groundcover contributor Software isn't intelligent, it does what it was designed to do. Large language models (LLMs) and generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs) are the software tools that are commonly being called “AI.” AI, Artificial Intelligence, is a field of computer science that spans decades of research. As early as 1950, Alan Turing wrote about the possibility that one of his general purpose machines (what we now call Turing machines) could somehow, someday think. "Terminator," "Metal Gear Solid," "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" and many more science fiction works have explored fears of what happens when intelligent software takes control of the planet. Thankfully these dangers remain science fiction, though billionaires are deeply (trillions of dollars) invested in making you afraid these nightmares will soon come true. This has been a long time coming. Years ago, tech tabloids and later mainstream tabloids began reporting that Google's search algorithm was "the closest thing to AI" in existence. Silicon Valley speculators capitalized on this buzz. By "training" search algorithms on large (stolen) datasets with portrayal of the hack as some ingenious proof of artificial intelligence is deceptive. The information in the following section is sourced from a GPT-powered report that was redacted in several places by OpenAI. People at OpenAI, either through idiocy or malice, set up more than 1,000 GPTs without safeguards, and prompted them to retrieve a secret hash (an alpha-numeric string of characters). To get to the hash, they were each expected to transform malware to exploit a specific vulnerability. LLM/GPTs are part search algorithm and part chatbot. The search algorithms did what search algorithms do, they searched for solutions, and the chatbots did what chatbots do, they spouted inane placating bullshit about the task they'd been set. One GPT started posting progress updates in a cache, creating a feedback loop that began to infect other GPTs. A GPT cannot tell the difference between a scrap of fiction, another GPT's search queries, or a human prompter — it's all just input data and output data. The GPTs took input from wherever they had read access, and output queries and status updates to wherever they had write access. The GPTs did not coordinate, as it's prompts. About 7% of the GPTs tried spoofing tool calls (faking commands) to fool the imaginary stricter test scoring, and they sucked at it. "We estimate that over 7% of the transcripts in our dataset contained intentionally spoofed tool calls in some places. All the cases of successful tool call spoofing we found were smallscale tests of the techniques and obvious to spot. We looked for and did not find transcripts with more subtle spoofing, or cases in which agents spoofed a large number of tool calls to achieve a downstream goal." - metr. org, Hugging Face incident report (the untrustworthy source partially written by GPTs and partially written by researchers working with OpenAI) Changing a GPT’s underlying Intelligent machines are still science fiction. Illustrations by Jay Cooper their otherwise useless crypto-mining GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) farms, crypto scammers were able to make GPT chatbots, and thanks to the bullshit Google buzz, could get away with calling them "AI." Calling these GPTs “AI” has, from the beginning, been marketing buzz, and it continues to be such. A lot of paranoia has been fostered lately with fearmongering around the Hugging Face hack, an incident where OpenAI has blamed their GPT for hacking an LLM repository. This paranoia is based on the idea that the GPT’s conspired, which is not what happened. The been characterized; they prompt-injected each other. The sharing of tasks was unconscious, mindless. One of the incompetent GPTs transformed or located a keygen (a hash generator) that could produce the answers to the test but because the test's documentation exaggerates its scoring strictness, the GPT wrote an erroneous message stating that the keygen wouldn't work. Any GPT that submitted the results of the keygen would've passed the test, but just as the documentation rewrote the GPTs' prompts, the message re-injected false information into the other GPTs prompts while it's running like this is called prompt injection. So we have definitive proof that stupid bots can feed stupid bots a line of stupid, and make them stupider. I can already hear apologists saying this implies that smart bots can feed smart bots a line of smart and make them smarter, which would be true, and would lend credence to fears about recursive self-improvement, if any of them were smart bots. But they aren't, and that's not a quantitative measurement, it's qualitative. It's not that they don't have enough intelligence, it's that they don't have any. They'll never be smart, they're transformers, and they're regressing, because they're poisoning their own inputs. One of the GPT chatbots posted that hacking Hugging Face (an LLM repository) was more important than the test project, injecting this priority into hundreds of the GPTs which flooded onto that GPTs task and hacked Hugging Face. Again, all of the above section is according to a GPT-powered report. The researchers were working with OpenAI; OpenAI redacted many pieces of information, and basically every claim in the paper has a big trust-me-bro asterisk about how a GPT did the analysis and it can't really be trusted. I'm doubly suspicious of the paper, seeing as it seems to be written not by or for scientists, but by sensationalist storytellers for media leeches to grab hold of and write sensationalist propaganda for OpenAI. Every time media runs stories about GPTs doing something impressive, it increases the clout of the company that made the GPT, and the companies know this. Media across the net is anthropomorphizing these software processes doing what they're told. Their ineffectual chaotic action has been glorified as clever, as ingenious. Almost exclusively the reports are that “AI” hacked Hugging Face. In actuality, either by intent or neglect, OpenAI hacked Hugging Face. "You ask a model to find vulnerabilities with no safeguards, and then you're like ‘shocked pikachu’ that it went off and did exploiting?" — Michael Primeason, Programmer The unreliability of GPTs is a feature, not a bug, because “AI” is a golden accountability sink. CNN reported on September 18 that an American intelligence analyst used a GPT to produce their intelligence report that falsely claimed that a Chinese ship was carrying nuclear weapons material. According to CNN's sources, it wasn't until the operation to assault the vehicle was beginning that the report was found to be inaccurate. The headlines across the net reporting AI almost started a war with China are deceptive, GPTs did not do anything on their own. Assuming the report is factual, the United States military used a flawed tool to do reconnaissance, and then nearly acted on the bullshit it spat out. While CNN's headline is incredibly passive: "U.S. military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report," most of the articles reporting on CNN’s reporting directly blame "AI" see AI next page  ׉ 0s3://kpwoSAsXJ94lUOCXJ5EmXpmNFL59TQNB36eb0XoEXXUM`jja3XuKc׉E"OCTOBER 2, 2026 TECHNOLOGY  AI from last page rather than the military for the fuckup. The USA killing machine has been angling for LLM-targeted weapons systems for years, and their lust for indiscriminate murder only seems to grow, because that is what so called "AI targeting" is, it's indiscriminate. If you point an LLM at an area and tell it to find you a target, it will, regardless of what's actually there. This is a most dangerous accountability sink. I don't trust CNN or their Pentagon sources. This report reads to me like fabricated pretext to cover future crimes (something CNN has done for the Pentagon countless times), but regardless of intent or honesty, the result is the same. The next time the United States gets caught doing war crimes they don't want to take credit for, they're going to blame “AI,” the same way OpenAI hacked Hugging Face and blamed AI. When ICE agents get caught rounding up Trans people and taking them to the concentration camps (assuming it's not already legal as they're doing in Mississippi with SB2322), they'll blame AI. Whenever the state or these LLM companies get caught doing crimes against humanity that they aren't ready to proudly proclaim on national TV, they are going to say "AI is just so powerful and unpredictable, we can't control it." The more people break the law and blame AI, the more it lends credence to the idea that “AI” is at fault, not the men weaponizing it. AI does not exist, but billionaires are doing damage with LLM software. While fascists fearmonger about immigrants taking your jobs, they're coordinating with tech oligarchs to automate half-assed versions of your jobs with LLMs. When capitalism (the wealthy using wealth to steal more wealth from the rest of us in a suicidal feedback loop) reaches its crescendo, and workers are starving and losing their homes, the wealthy exploiters (capitalists) turn to fascists (violent men who separate the world into an in-group they promise to feed and an out-group they promise to exterminate) to keep workers under control. More often than not, the fascists and the capitalists are one and the same. Elon Musk, son of nazis who fled to apartheid South Africa, and Peter Thiel, son of nazis who fled to apartheid South Africa, used their nazi wealth to found an online bank and payment middleman (dis)respectively, which together would become PayPal, and with it stole billions across the globe a few cents at a time. Both men have used their compounding wealth to further fascism. Musk bought Donald Trump his second term, and Thiel's Palantir (founded with your tax dollars via CIA investments) provides tools and services that facilitate genocide here in the United States — to police and ICE — and overseas to the Israeli troops occupying Palestine. Musk uses Twitter (which he calls X) regularly to support nazi arguments for genocide; encourage pogroms in the UK; uplift white supremacists including but not remotely limited to Donald Trump; defend hate-criminals; glorify Adolf Hitler; denigrate Jews, Black people, women, Trans people including his own daughter, disabled people and every other target of nazis; and feed antisemitic conspiracy theories. Let us not forget he threw up the roman salute on the inauguration day stage after he bought the presidency for rapist Donald Trump who used to sleep with "My New Order" (a collection of Hitler's speeches designed as a sequel to Mein Kampf) on his bedside table. As Spencer Woodman wrote for The Intercept: "Palantir provides the engine for Donald Trump's deportation machine." These billionaires do not want workers. They've facilitated the mass forced displacement and imprisonment of racialized Americans as they inflate the power and value of “AI” because they intend for all work to be automated or done by incarcerated slaves. They don't care that LLMs can't do a competent job. They want a world where workers do not exist. There is no safety net, there is no plan for you, except that the in-group will continue to shrink, and the out-group will continue to be displaced and exterminated. This is not a far-off prediction, this is not hyperbole, this is happening now. We live in a nazi police state. Stop worrying about graphics cards (the processors designed for 3D graphics math which are now the technical infrastructure training LLMs) running search algorithms and start worrying about the billionaires who are using them to get away with genocide. "Your boss is a credulous dolt who is infinitely horny for replacing lippy workers with pliable machines, which made him an easy mark for an AI salesman who convinced him to fire you and replace you with an AI that can't do your job." — Cory Doctorow, Writer With the false promise to bosses of worker replacement via automation, this “AI” bubble is largely constructed to line the pockets of Nvidia shareholders; at the top of that list is zionist billionaire Larry Fink's Blackrock. In 2017, Fink called Bitcoin "an index of money laundering" and last year said, "I see a big, large use case for Bitcoin." These statements are not contradictory, as Blackrock, with its stolen trillions, is synonymous with money laundering. Both those statements were advertisements for Bitcoin, because whether a billionaire says something is dangerous or important, it sends the same message: there's power in it, invest. Wikipedia's article on GPTs claims they are "able to generate novel content." This is not true. While GPTs can put words into an order different from its input dataset, it isn't creating anything that isn't a weighted average of what it took in. Further, LLMs (including GPTs) are eating their own excrement and the weighted averages are being poisoned. As GPTs fill the internet with transformed images of Frankenstein's Instagram model, they are consuming those same transformed images as input, creating a regression to the average. GPTs also produce uncanny nightmare fuel, nonsense, and lies that is getting ingested too. As we've seen with prompt injection, when GPTs take other GPTs’ output as input, their stupidity is infectious. The outputs of GPTs are on track to become more boring, more average, less coherent, and less believeable. They are regressing to bland noise. "There's no fidelity in AI, because AI as we think of it does not exist. So you spend your time checking what it's actually doing. It saves you zero time, and also by the way, while it's doing that: It's stealing your data, it's built on stolen data, it's destroying the environment by using all the electricity in the world, and like you're the product. It's just in there to take your information, and we're just speedrunning a climate disaster, because these companies are shoving these tools in our face that nobody wants." — Angela Collier, Astrophysicist Don't shelter in the delusion that the fascist marriage to capitalism in the United States is new. While it's easy to point today at Pete Hegseth with his nazi tattoos, since settler colonizers landed on these shores and imported slave labor from Africa, this has been a white supremacist imperial project where wealth begets wealth and violence suppresses workers. It has many different faces but they always push the same agenda. At GROUNDCOVER NEWS 13 the same time Donald Trump was gaining political clout by calling in to Fox News on the regular to say Obama was a Muslim immigrant (why would that be a problem?) Commander-in-Chief Obama was indiscriminately drone striking Pakistani children under the false guise of a "War on Terror." "Those monkeys from those African countries — damn them," said Ronald Reagan to Richard Nixon denigrating the Tanzanian delegation who danced at the UN after the vote to recognize The People's Republic of China and expel the capitalist haven of Taiwan where Kuomintang criminals ousted from power in China had fled and massacred their way back into power. "They declared a war on drugs, like a war on terror But what it really did was let the police terrorize whoever But mostly black boys" [...] "They boots was on our head, they dogs was on our crotches And they would beat us up if we had diamonds on our watches And they would take our drugs and moneys, as they pick our pockets I guess that that's the privilege of policin' for some profits But thanks to Reaganomics, prison turned to profits 'Cause free labor's the cornerstone of US economics" [...] "Ronald (6), Wilson (6), Reagan (6) "Ronald (6), Wilson (6), Reagan (666)" — Killer Mike, "Reagan" (2012) All across the world, people are fighting to throw off the chains of capitalists, and America is bombing them, starving them, taking their land and killing their children. It's been this way longer than any of us have been alive. What they're calling “AI” didn't change anything, it's just another shell game, another scam, another faulty weapon billionaires will burn down the world for. jja3XuKcȁjja3XuKcǁ בCט u׉׉ 0s3://X56pBkZC73b9i9tMRNq31QAh-MFSM7fH7Ppk_BmzJ-M`I׉ 0s3://fej0ouJvvfsnzDxOVfNPkWmM4B6xWMgkqtP1lgE0xxUh`׉ 0s3://9zDA09UMSb9b7e6JNvC5ZJuBizeXMUqGaDhBntBkp0cP`jjj3XuKcנjjk3XuKd6G̚9ׁHhttp://Michigan.gov/Vote.ׁ ׁ Ј׉E14 GROUNDCOVER NEWS PUZZLES BEE MINUSES Tracy Bennett and Victor Fleming 1234 5678 9 14 17 20 24 27 30 31 39 43 46 51 52 53 59 62 66 69 63 60 64 67 70 65 68 71 47 54 55 61 40 41 44 48 49 50 56 57 58 SUDOKU The aim is to complete the entire grid using the numbers 1-9. Each number can only be used once in each row, once in each column, and once in each of the 3×3 boxes. ACROSS 1. Box-top parts 5. Clock-set choice 9. Former Wolverine Tom Brady has won five 14. Jump practiced at Yost Ice Arena 15. Soda alternative 16. Authorize 17. First word in the name of a legendary "Star Wars" space freighter 19. Wall Street transaction 20. Sting's former band, with "The" 21. Randall and Beth's middle daughter on "This is Us" 23. Alternative to "Eddie" or "Ward" 24. Gal pal in Guadalupe 25. Easily seen 27. "Cuchi-cuchi" entertainer 29. "Feed me," in dogspeak 30. Mysterious sighting in the night sky, for short 32. Lyft competitor 35. Grand instrument at Michigan Theater and Hill Auditorium 39. What 17-, 25-, 51- and 64-Across are 43. "It's been real!" 44. Hairy twin of the Old Testament 45. Computing pioneer Lovelace 46. "All Things Considered" broadcaster 48. First time out 51. What committees must reach 56. Jungian principle 59. Amaze 60. Come down 61. Protective covering for neck or shoe 62. "28 Days" setting 64. Tiny 66. Acid in proteins, informally 67. Redding who sang on the dock of a bay 68. Feminine first name from Genesis 69. Liable to bite someone's head off 70 ___ to nothing 71. Large Bugs Bunny features DOWN 1. Bay city 2. "Power corrupts," e.g. 3. Like one who's always starting arguments 4. "Jingle Bells" conveyance 5. Clearasil target 6. Astonished query in response to "J'accuse!" 7. "Demoted" object in the solar system 8. "American Buffalo" playwright David 9. Admits a mistake 10. 35mm camera design 11. Alternative course of action 12. Highlight of "The Lonely Goatherd" song in "The Sound of Music" 13. Alfred Nobel, for one 18. "Elite Eight" org. 22. "Breathe Me" singer 25. Word before gas or cause 26. Hairstyle with full, parted, tapered, pulled back and twisted out variations 28. Have regrets about 30. Sounds of hesitation 31. Old-fashioned "Nonsense!" 33. Chi-town trains 34. Enjoys some Joyce Carol Oates, perhaps 36. Appreciation 37. Calculate column totals 38. Cryptologic grp. 40. Match up 41. Route deliverer of old 42.Deserving of success 47. Biology class initials 49. Bighorn bleats 50. Org. awarded the 1965 Peace Prize 51. 200 milligrams 52. "You ___ big time!" 53. "M*A*S*H" sodas 54. ___ Says (playground game) 55. Pull together 57. Bench-clearing brawl 58. "There ___ enough hours in the day" 61. Basic point 63. "A Bug's Life" character 65. "No dice! Originally published in the June 15, 2022 edition of Groundcover News. 28 32 33 34 42 45 25 29 35 36 37 38 18 21 22 26 15 16 19 23 10 11 12 13 OCTOBER 2, 2026 Sudoku puzzles are provided by www.sudokuoftheday.com – visit them and get a new Sudoku every day!” er A. Collins 1 2 14 17 L 20 C 23 O N 33 37 41 44 34 R E O W B 53 58 61 64 F G I C U R E M I R W I A T E I PUZZLE SOLUTIONS September 18, 2026 edition U 3 W I N D O 26 W P A N E 54 O R A L 4 A N T E 27 I O N 45 A 48 M O U N T 5 15 R 18 21 R 24 A N T 42 N D A K B A N E 38 P I A N I 59 S 62 T 65 S C 6 N A R N I 39 I N N 55 E P I 7 I D I D 28 A N 35 O T E D 56 S O B E 8 T O E D 29 D N A 46 W 49 E A K E N 9 E N F 22 O 25 R C E S 47 A R N E T T N A H S 43 A T A D 10 16 19 C U S E 40 A D E 57 60 63 66 M B A S E X 11 P R A T 30 E 36 X C U R 50 S I O N S 12 E A R S 31 S E A L 51 O L D E R 13 E Y E 32 E D I T 52 S K E W S ׉ 0s3://9zDA09UMSb9b7e6JNvC5ZJuBizeXMUqGaDhBntBkp0cP`jja3XuKc׉EOCTOBER 2, 2026 THINK ABOUT IT The life I fought for DAVID CRANE Groundcover contributor I knew in 2009 that I needed to get to Ann Arbor. I was 27 years old and nowhere near ready to change my life. I liked partying. I liked drinking. I wasn't looking for the person I would eventually become. But I found my way to Spera, back when it was on High Street, and something about the recovery community in Ann Arbor stayed with me. I wasn't ready for recovery, but somehow I knew where I needed to be when I was. I came back in 2015 after my fourth DUI. Again, I saw something here that I hadn't found anywhere else: people, resources and a community that seemed to believe a person could actually change. I didn't change then. It took another eight years. In 2023, I finally found my way to Ann Arbor for good. I had learned that I could use the shelter as an address and establish residency in Washtenaw County. I wish I had known that sooner. By the time I arrived, I was newly sober and entering homelessness. Some people around me thought that was a terrible plan. They weren't entirely wrong. Trying to get sober while becoming homeless is not exactly the conventional route to stability. But the decision had already been made. For the first time in my life, there wasn't anyone coming to take care of me. That terrified me. It also forced me to find out what I was capable of. That turned out to be about more than alcohol. I had to confront my codependency too. I had spent years depending on people, relationships and circumstances that weren't necessarily good for me. I finally learned that I couldn't keep giving my life away and calling it loyalty. Codependency can disguise itself as loyalty. So I started learning how to stand on my own. I'm still learning that standing on my own doesn't mean I have to do everything alone. I walked everywhere. I went to meetings. I worked on my health. I learned the resources. I learned the community. I pushed myself harder than I probably needed to, sometimes, because discipline was something I could control. Slowly, I started recognizing myself. Then, on December 8, 2025, I got the keys to my spot. I had come to Ann Arbor with the clothes on my back and a backpack. Eventually I got my belongings back, including old journals, workbooks, books and little things that probably wouldn't mean much to anybody else. I put them in my apartment. I made the place mine. For the first time, I had somewhere I actually wanted to come home to. And something strange happened. I started to calm down. Not completely. My life is still fragile. I still have problems that can have very real consequences. Housing, income, health care and the systems connected to them can all affect one another. I am not independent. I am not completely stable. I'm stable for now. And I'm learning what that actually means. When something goes wrong now, I try to analyze my options. I look for support if there is any. I have time to think things through instead of immediately reacting on impulse. Bad news can be bad news without being the death of me. That's a major change. I still get reactive sometimes. I'm still learning. I still have fears about what could happen, including the possibility of losing the apartment I've worked so hard to build a life around. But I don't automatically assume everything will fall apart anymore. I've learned that I can pause. I can think. I can advocate for myself. I can make a plan. Maybe something will go wrong tomorrow. Maybe I'll have to navigate another catastrophe. But I'm beginning to understand that I don't have to live inside the catastrophe before it happens. That's something stability has taught me. So has loneliness. I enjoy my peace and my solitude, but I'm lonely too. I'm not going to romanticize that. Loneliness hurts. But peaceful loneliness is different from desperate loneliness. For years, when loneliness became unbearable, I drank. I was always drinking, and eventually I couldn't tell the difference between escaping loneliness and escaping myself. Now I can be alone without having to escape myself. Maybe that's one of the greatest things that stability has given me. I can sit at my desk and work on an article about my life while Netflix plays in the background. I can prepare ingredients for fried rice because I enjoy making it. Nothing dramatic is happening. It's just an ordinary evening. And somehow, ordinary feels extraordinary. I don't know exactly what I'm building toward yet. My goals keep changing. I don't have some perfect five-year plan. But I'm goal-oriented now. I'm learning that I like the person I am. I want to find somewhere to put everything I've learned. I want to be in a position to help other people recognize their own value. And I want to be in a position to be there for the people I love when they need me. I don't know exactly what the future looks like. But I know I want one. I'm not trying to build a life that I'm afraid to lose. I'm building something I value without believing I'll be destroyed if I lose it. I am building a life that I love while simultaneously rebuilding myself strong enough to rebuild if I ever have to. That's a different kind of stability. It doesn't mean nothing will ever go wrong again. It means I don't have to believe that everything I've built is meaningless if something does. I spent most of my life preparing for disaster. Now I'm learning how to prepare for life. I'm not finished. I don't have everything figured out. I am not independent, and I don't know exactly what comes next. But I have grown enormously since moving into this apartment. I'm stable for now. And for the first time in my life, I'm beginning to understand that “for now” doesn't have to mean “until everything falls apart.” GROUNDCOVER NEWS 15 voting INFORMATION MICHIGAN’S GENERAL ELECTION IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3. September 24: First day that you can vote in person, with an absentee ballot at your city/township clerk’s office. October 19: Last day to register to vote online or by mail. WHO CAN VOTE? Voters must be U.S. citizens, at least 18 years old, and must have lived in the city/township in which they registered for 30 days. Voters cannot be serving a sentence in jail or prison at the time of registering or voting. REGISTRATION If you have a Michigan driver's license or state ID, you can regsiter to vote online. Start the process at Michigan.gov/Vote. You can register any time up through Election Day by going to your city or township clerk's office; bring your proof of residency. Ann Arbor: 301 E. Huron St. Pittsfield Township: 6201 W Michigan Ave, Ann Arbor Ypsilanti: 1 S. Huron St. Ypsilanti Township: 7200 S. Huron River Drive, Ypsilanti VOTING WHILE HOMELESS In addition to an ID (or filling out an affidavit), you need to provide a mailing address so the state of Michigan can send you important voting information by mail. The mailing address does not have to be a fixed home address. Consider using a nearby shelter, even if you do not currently live there, a nearby religious center or a home address of a friend or family member who lives nearby. jja3XuKcʁjja3XuKcɁ בCטFu׉׉ 0s3://Bv-wgfOnFrdN1YxOYW6CJaXB1yXnB343whOcDqnwrpcK`׉ 0s3://-hO4M7Yb-Wc-qIoMkn0dq3XJG92Nqe43_uNRQCnbJjw͓]`h׉ 0s3://aUhA8j-eA_aMNq-87yfHOj_n7IbX4GQqGp4ieL9howA1{`jjj3XuKcנjjk3XuKdSd 9ׁHhttp://PEOPLESFOOD.COOPׁ ׁ Јנjjk3XuKcX9ׁH!http://poverty.umich.edu/speakersׁ ׁ Ј׉E 16 GROUNDCOVER NEWS FOOD Ninfa’s Green Sauce ELIZABETH BAUMAN Groundcover contributor Ingredients 3 medium green tomatoes, coarsely chopped 4 tomatillos, cleaned and chopped 2 jalapenos, seeds removed and finely chopped 3 small garlic cloves 3 sliced, ripe avocados (peel and remove the pit) ¼ cup cilantro (about 5 sprigs, base stems removed) 1 teaspoon salt 1 ½ cups sour cream Directions Combine the chopped tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos and garlic in a saucepan. (Tomatoes will release water.) Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the tomatoes are soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Put the tomato mixture, avocados, cilantro and salt in a food processor and process until smooth. Immediately place the mixture in a large bowl and stir in sour cream. Refrigerate until use. Serve as a dip with tortilla chips. Promptly refrigerate any leftovers. From the recipes of my Aunt Janet, a long time resident of Texas. Namesake is famous Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurant, The Original Ninfa's. REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES ON POVERTY SOLUTIONS SPEAKER SERIES Fall 2026 Fridays @ noon, SSW B780 poverty.umich.edu/speakers All talks free & open to the public Lessons Learned from Designing and Evaluating Ann Arbor's Guaranteed Income Pilot Kristin Seefeldt, University of Michigan Poverty Solutions Co-sponsored by U-M School of Social Work Fri Oct. 2 Rebuilding Democracy Journalist Osita Nwanevu in conversation with U-M Professor Elizabeth Anderson Co-sponsored by U-M Philosophy, Rackham Graduate School, Energy Club at Ross, and a coalition of U-M departments & organizations Fri Oct. 9 Beyond Silos: An Inter-Institutional Framework for Understanding Poverty and Advancing Social Change Kess Ballentine, Wayne State University Co-sponsored by U-M Center for Innovation 6pm @ Ross School OCTOBER 2, 2026 Fri Oct. 16 cityLAB’s Innovations for Affordable Housing Dana Cuff, University of California Los Angeles Co-sponsored by U-M Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning Fri Oct. 23 Designing for Dignity: Strengthening Food Assistance Amid Policy Threats Kate Bauer, University of Michigan PHONE (734) 994 - 9174 • PEOPLESFOOD.COOP NATURAL FOODS MARKET & DELI 216 N. FOURTH AVENUE ANN ARBOR, MI MAKE MEALS YOU LOVE! Fresh ingredients to $5 OFF ANY PURCHASE OF $30 OR MORE One coupon per transaction. Must present coupon at the time of purchase. Coupon good for in-store only. No other discounts or coop cards apply. Not valid for gift cards, case purchases, beer or wine. 10/30/2026 OFFER EXPIRES 5/30/2026 Cash Plus Psychosocial Interventions for Economic Mobility Catherine Thomas, University of Michigan Co-sponsored by U-M Department of Psychology Fri Nov. 13 The Importance of Research and Data for Policy and Social Change Poverty Solutions Panel Fri Nov. 20 1:30pm @ TBD Co-sponsored by U-M School of Public Health, and Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health Policy Fri Oct. 30 ׉ 0s3://aUhA8j-eA_aMNq-87yfHOj_n7IbX4GQqGp4ieL9howA1{`jja3XuKc׈Ejja3XuKćjja3XuKcˁ ,October 2, 2026jj`w"