Board of Education - Regular Meeting

Let's do I'm Dana Denha and you're watching FYI. In 2024, the city of Ann Arbor used American Recovery Act dollars to fund an experiment that provided 100 local lowincome entrepreneurs and gig workers $528 a month for 24 months with no strings attached. See the collaborative art project created by University of Michigan students next. This is the opening of an art exhibition that is associated with the now concluded Ann Arbor guaranteed income program which was called guaranteed income to grow or gig A2. They used some quotes from gig A2 participants and my job as artist facilitator was to help the students to make artworks that were based on these quotes. people who participated in the program gave us during interviews and then had some student art artists illustrate those quotes. And we're hoping it just starts a conversation about, you know, what could what does guaranteed income mean? What would it really mean to be able to give people money that didn't have any strings attached to it? A fun fact is that most of the artists that made these pieces are not even University of Michigan art majors. They're mostly non-art majors. So, I was really impressed. Being able to do something that was in alignment with my values and got to support something that I really believe in was really rewarding.

For more on the No Strings Traveling Art Exhibit, visit an arboriststudios.com. Stay tuned and we'll be back with more in exactly 30 seconds. The warm spring breeze has blown in, leaving many of us ready to get outside and barbecue or maybe even roast some marshmallows on an open flame. Learn more about grilling and fire pits in Ann Arbor in this month's City Roundup in 60. Hi, my name is Mike Kennedy. I'm the fire chief for the Ann Arbor Fire Department. Here today to talk about fire safety. We have a lot of information on the city website, a2gov.org/fire for both grilling safety along with outdoor fireplace safety. For grilling safety, we recommend keeping grills at least 10 ft away from a structure. If you have hot coals, never throw them into the trash. That can cause a fire. And for outdoor fire safety, you can't have campfires in the city of Ann Arbor. They have to be 25 ft from a structure. You are also allowed to have portable fireplaces. Those have to be 15 ft from a structure. Need to make sure that they're attended at all times and they're completely extinguished before you leave. There's some additional guidance and requirements uh that are available on the city website. Please go there, check it out. If you have any other questions, please let us know. We're happy to answer.

Dorothy Gail has been part of the zeitgeist for well over a century. But what is it about the little girl who originated in print from the author LFrank Bomb that has made her endure generations, technology, and everchanging family values? It's Dorothy explores the iconic character, the actors portraying her, and how her ideals uplift minorities. Joining me is filmmaker in the creative mind behind It's Dorothy and my good friend Jeffrey Male. Welcome to the show, Jeff. Thank you, Dana. I love that. My good friend. My good friend Dana. And I have to call you Jeffrey, but I prefer Jeff. Um Jeff works.

I would love to know what is like your first your first memory of The Wizard of Oz and Dorothy Gail. Were you young? Like what is it?

Um you know what? I people ask me this all the time. I don't remember a first viewing or a first anything because it's always been with me, but um I will share a funny story that I do remember uh which was in the second grade. Um I remember having uh a bunch of girlfriends and we the girls would bring in like Tiger Beats and New Kids on the Block magazines and posters and stuff and uh images of all the boys that they had crushes on. And um I knew as as a little you know queer boy you know at the time didn't know that that's what I was but um I couldn't bring in anything with a boy to participate with them. So I'd had to bring in something that had was a girl. And so I chose to bring in the 50th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz VHS booklet that came with uh the the the movie. And uh on the inside of the booklet is this you know beautiful photo of Judy Garland you know singing over the rainbow. and I would, you know, open it and show my friends and I was like, "It's Judy Garland. Isn't she beautiful?" Um, and so that was like one of my very first memories like, you know, participating with the Wizard of Oz as a child.

Oh my gosh, I love that. I didn't know that about you and I love it even more to have that story. You remember? Yeah. I I you know, I remember watching it myself and I loved it and and I don't know if I always thought like, oh, Dorothy, I really resonate with her. Like in the film a lot of people talk about that how she resonates but like watching the the film and like feeling the way she makes people feel. I feel like I missed it, you know, like I missed something when I watched it when I was young. Um but I loved it. I loved the story. I loved everything about it. What was that spark for you that you were like, I'm going to make this documentary?

Yeah. Well, I you know, as a as a longtime lover of the story and the character, you know, I was uh very infatuated with Judy Garland my whole life, and so I I knew that there would be something there that I wanted to approach and tackle creatively. Um I had also grown up loving Return to Oz as well. And so, a very different, darker interpretation of the story and the film. Um and then as an adult fell in love with The Whiz. And so I knew I wanted to do something with Oz, but I didn't really in the beginning I I it, you know, it was just like what is it? You know, there's all these various things about that is are so multifaceted within this universe, but like what's like what's the connection or what can I myself add creatively to the to the conversation? And so like one day it just clicked. It was literally like it's Dorothy. Dorothy is the throughine to all these incredible performances, all these incredible women, all these incredible adaptations and stories and um different ways that we see ourselves reflected on on screen. And so once like the Dorothy thing clicked, it was it was great because it also like it provided a very clear path of like what was going to be focused on and what wasn't going to be focused on. Like I didn't want to dip too much into like the MGM the lore around it, you know, with like, you know, hanging munch munchkins or like, you know, asbestous like dropping from, you know, the set for the snow, you know, all that stuff I I feel like had been done and and covered. And so I wanted to just really focus on the experience of what goes with Aleene, one of the most iconic characters of our generation. And I wanted to hear from as many different women who played Dorothy. So we had a very small list of of you know our prominent Dorothy's and we just started reaching out and make trying to

make contact and developing and kind of pitching the project and the idea to them and seeing who was interested and we had a very early uh Zoom phone call with Fusa Balk. Um, I edited a sizzle reel and we presented that to her and you know she was we had like a lovely 45 minute conversation with my producer Kevin Bright and we chatted and it was just she was so sweet and so lovely and she said yes I would love to do this. Um, just interview me last. And I was like okay great. I don't know when last is but I think that sounds like a yes. Um, and then I eventually met Chenise Williams uh uh later that year actually at Judy Garland's 100th birthday. We were both here in Los Angeles for this fragrance event that they were doing for her big um 100th birthday here and I connected with her there and then pitched the idea to her and she was just obsessed with it and we became fast friends as well. So um yeah and then it was just kind of finding the the areas in which you wanted to explore and testing certain themes out and yeah it's just with with these docs and these processes you know that there are so many things that you could focus on and there are so many things that I do cover in the film but I think that that's part of the story and the journey of Dorothy. She meets so many people along the way and I wanted to include as many different voices and experiences that I could. Yeah, I love that it's not just The Wizard of Oz. I love that you're taking from all these things. And it's funny because I actually had never seen The Whiz until last year. I just watched it for the first time last year. So, watching this documentary and seeing it was all like really fresh to me, which I thought was really cool. Um, and like some of these like The Whiz is so different and like sort of strange and cool and like unexpected and you know to me like watching this

I'm like okay first of all you've had to you have to have like thousands of hours of things you have to comb through. Where do you even start? Like where does this even begin? Yeah. They're like the nuts and the bolts the technical stuff. Yeah. It's it's crazy. But I mean like Yeah. as you know, I mean, I know you know, uh, editing software and whatnot. So, I use Premiere and so I'm also the editor as well. Um, but you also got like the interviews and stuff. Were you there, you know, Chenise and Michelle and all those?

Yeah. So, in my last film, You Don't Know Me, uh, was all audio interviews. So, um, the visuals that you see guide the narrative and we were using film clips and archival to tell the story. And I knew I wanted to still play within that space, but I wanted to elevate it. Uh take it a a step up. And I thought, well, what better way to do this than see the women who play Dorothia. Let's use let's just isolate them for on camera interviews and then the rest we can focus on audio and it'll be easier to kind of move things forward. Um and it'll be easy to figure out like how to allocate like our production budget and stuff. So, um, so while we're kind of scheduling and working to develop, uh, I'm also watching all of the Wizard of O of Oz films. I bring them into Premiere and I'll just like put markers down. And so, like, if you have a um an adaption of of the Wizard of Oz, you know, there are certain plot points that you're you know, you're going to get to in in each of them if it is, you know, adaptation of the the Elrank Bomb book. And so I I love seeing the way these different adaptations over the years visually interpret those scenes. And so I thought it let's follow Dorothy's journey within the book and connect the real life experiences of the women who we see on camera who played Dorothy to Dorothy's journey. And so, um, it also like allowed for me to create kind of like a nonlinear narrative as far as what, you know, the cultural experience of her. Like I I started this project and thought, okay, like maybe it'll be fun to make a biopic, a biography of a fictional character. Like what would that look and feel like? we know what those look and feel like for for real people, for actors, musicians, artists, whatnot, but like it's never been done for a fictional character. And so by

including, you know, all of these women's experiences and voices throughout, but connecting them with Dorothy's journey in the book and in the emotional experiences that she hap that she experienced along the way was a really fun way to like not get into the and then this and then this ABC D kind of storytelling, you know. Yeah. Yeah. It really moves along. And I know I mentioned to you before this interview that you know the animation I think you had an animation house do stuff for you. I'm not sure. Yeah.

Yeah. So you the story really moves along with the the animations but the animations feel like you're like in oz like you everything's moving and flowing and colorful and beautiful and it just really adds to the story. But the other thing that it really made me think so much about is how passionate these women that play portrayed Dorothy are about Dorothy and it seems really genuine. They seem like they really care about that character, how they portrayed it and what it means to people. And I had no idea how how much of an effect Dorothy has on people.

Well, thank you. Yeah, I will will first kind of comment on the the animations. I I'm so glad you love them because that's exactly what I wanted the viewer to feel like. I worked with a very talented post-production house, graphics house named Code of Arms. Uh there were some friends that I made actually when I lived in Chicago, uh Jonathan Loke and Clara Leman, and they do beautiful, beautiful work. Um and so part of the process with them was kind of developing the look and the feel. And and one of the things that I specifically said was, you know, with so many things related to Oz and built in Oz, a lot of the look of the text and the branding and the design of it is rooted in the aesthetics of MGM and the aesthetics of, you know, the Judy Garland film. And so I didn't want that. I didn't want it to be connected too heavily to one property. I wanted to kind of feel like its own thing. And so I we took the book animations which are in the public domain and used those illustrations as like kind of like the chapter headings, but all the way throughout, you know, there's like color washes and scribbles and stars and and things that just like I wanted it to feel like a child had like, you know, it had been ripped from like a child's coloring book, you know? I mean, honestly, there's even like it's subtle sometimes like you the first watch I didn't notice some stuff and then the second time I'm like, "Oh, there's even more than I than I first like just took in, you know."

Yeah. Um, but yeah, so that I mean it was I'm so so happy with uh everything they did. It was beautiful work and um and yeah and to to to follow up on your point on uh the the the actresses they just they were so so um honored to share their stories and they were so honored to be part of this legacy uh playing Dorothy and obviously when they stepped into those slippers I mean some of them were a lot younger uh Michelle Lewis was actually um currently in Broadway as Dorothy when we filmed with her so that an incredible experience. She was just nominated for a Tony Award today for Ragtime, so we're so happy for her. Oh, congrats.

Yeah, it's so good. She's She's worked so hard. Um and and yeah, so like everybody they all all had Dorothy kind of come into their life and very important times and everybody has they've Dorothy showed something in themselves that they didn't see before, you know. And I think that we all can see something in Dorothy and I hope that we all see something in Dorothy that we can strive for and strive to. And if you don't see something in yourself, I hope you see something in someone that you love.

Well, let's watch the trailer for It's Dorothy, now streaming on Peacock TV. It's a story that anybody can relate to.

You're Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. It can't be true. Judy Garland felt incredible pressure to live up to Dorothy. We have so many different renditions of Dorothy. I never saw myself being Dorothy. It was such a outer body experience like I was Dorothy. Dorothy Gail is just so iconic because of how the film was received initially. I always assumed nobody saw it. Nobody at all. Me being the only human on the set was hilarious. What?

How real do you want to get? People didn't understand what I was going through. I want to go home. Well, then you would have to walk.

She knew all she had to do was click her heels. Why didn't she tell her about you? This little black girl was saving an entire alternate universe. That is the hope that we see and we hold on to. The Dorothy say took the shoe like this is why I've blocked this out because it's just tragic. It's just crazy.

You are a friend of Darcy, aren't you? We're back with Jeffrey McCale. We're talking about It's Dorothy on Peacock. Everyone should watch it. Everyone should get their Peacock subscription up to date to get on there and watch it. Such a fun watch. Um, you know what's I would like to know cuz you're obviously a big fan going into this, but you had to have learned so much throughout the process. I know when I watched it, I learned a lot because I don't know if I knew a lot. You know what I mean? But what what was something that you learned about Dorothy that sort of surprised you?

One of the things so there's kind of two answers to that. One of the first thing was the I would I knew I I loved seeing the way these films were discussed in which the times that they were released. So that was one of the things that in early in the research process, I love reading the reviews. I love hearing the way that the films were uh what the response was like uh critically. And so with Return to Oz and The Whiz, I knew that they were not reviewed well and they didn't land well with most mainstream with The Whiz, most white critics. But um the I was very surprised to see the way in which Judy Garland was discussed when she was cast in the role. There was a lot of criticism um about her her weight, about her age, about her like spunkiness um which is so which is wild to see because for most people, for many of us, she is the blueprint of Dorothy. And so the the fact that, you know, you had these critics who were just so focused on, you know, the Dorothy in the books, you know, and and think Judy Garland could never live up to their character was surprising to me. So that was the first thing that surprised me.

She surpassed it. she is further people know her more know the books. I'd never seen those illustrations before, those illustrations. And then everybody compares the character mostly to her, you know, and they they um and then the other thing which was surprising and upsetting to learn was the fact that Elrank Bomb, the writer of

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, had written some incredibly harmful and hurtful racist editorials when he was living in South Dakota. And that was something I was not aware of. it came to light uh for me kind of in the development early on in the process and um so I kind of struggled with like how you know how how to acknowledge if to acknowledge um but the funny thing was is I connected with elfring bomb's great granddaughter Gita Dorothy Marina just because you know she's a family member and she also was was born with the the given name Dorothy so I found that very interesting and the way that she kind of has carried the character throughout her life. Um, so I wanted to connect with her because of that. But, uh, I also learned that she and another family member went to South Dakota and apologized to the Lakota um, indigenous tribe members there for Alrank Balms, their great-grandfather's words uh, at the time. And so I found that to be very inspiring and beautiful way to acknowledge the past but also like you know empower ourselves to do better and move forward you know

well it is interesting you know people might think oh it's Dorothy it's just about this character but it's when you watch this film it is so much more than that I laughed I cried I'm like listening to you know Michelle talk about losing her father I could tear up right now thinking about what that character meant to her when she was a young girl and losing her father and Chenise and how she didn't have many friends and how that she that character resonated with her because of that and like how this character has uplifted these women throughout time and these are just the women we're talking to. How many other people has Dorothy affected in that way?

Well, so yeah, so many. And then the funny thing is is like this is the character that if you haven't played her on the Broadway stage, you've maybe played her in your elementary school production. And if not, you've played her in your living room in your fireplace when you were a kid. For many people, they've they've imagined themselves as Dorothy as a child. And I think it's so important to hold on to that. And I think that's one of the things that Verus Balk, you know, has held and carried on to that that childlike innocence, that childlike creativity. Um, because that is true to Dorothy. And I think that's something we as adults also need reminding to, you know, reminding to because it's important. It's important to to see ourselves in these characters and and to remember the our ourselves as little children, you know. I love that part when she talks about how people hated the film and that now as like an a grownup, an older woman, people come up to her and talk about how much that film meant to them. And I think that has to feel so good to her to know that like at the time people were blasting that and she was just a young girl. She was so young.

So people were blasting the film. She probably had some negative thoughts about it maybe at the time. I'm just putting ideas. Um, but then like to now come back to it so many decades later, have people be like, "That film had just a major impact on me. It meant so much to me as a child." Has to just be such an amazing feeling.

She's so young and also like so wise. One of the the clips that I uncovered was a television interview that she did at the time of the release, which you know I with with things like this, you see everything online that exists, but there was this one clip that we found um that hadn't been uh digitized yet. And so she's talking to an interviewer and the interviewer is like, "Well, do you think that you look like Judy Garland? Do you think that that's like why you got the part or what?" And she very matterof factly, well actually like I don't need to look like Judy Garland. Like she played the role the way she wanted, the way she saw it best. And I'm playing Dorothy the way I think was best. And it, you know, for a nine-year-old girl to to to respond like that in a televised interview was just, you know, just incredibly insightful. And you could just see she's just wise beyond her years.

It's when I was watching it, I thought the same thing. I'm like I you know I know her from maybe a little bit older you know she was maybe in her 20s the craft I'm sure you were fanboying about her while when you were talking to her on Zoom because the craft but like other stuff too like she was always around you knew her in the 90s a lot. So like to see her as a child and just speak so eloquently like that I was like she blew me away. She really did. Yeah. Well, we're out of time. Jeff, why should people get on Peacock or wherever it might be? I don't know if they can buy it, too. I don't know if what other ways they can watch it, but why should people get it? In what ways can they watch it?

Yeah, we uh we're on Peacock right now. In the coming weeks, we will be on Amazon, Apple, like iTunes, all that stuff for rent and for purchase. So, that'll be fun. Look out for that. You can follow along at It's Dorothy Film uh on Instagram. That's where we do all of our updates. And yeah, I mean the the thing that I uh love hearing from audiences, the many festivals we've we've screened at are are the ex the when somebody comes up to me and said, you know, I like you said like didn't know a lot about I maybe have only seen the Wizard of Oz when I was a kid. I had no idea about the all the many different adaptations, the many different ways in which this character lives in our culture. Um, so there are good chances that, you know, you might see yourself reflected in something that is spoken to or said on the screen, but um, it's a fun ride. It's an emotional ride. There's laughs. I love making people laugh and the next minute making a tear, you know, then a tear. So, you know, it's um, a beautiful journey and I hope you join me for the ride.

Yeah. And I do think watching it, everyone, like you said earlier, will find a little bit of themselves in Dorothy or strive to be more like her, which I want to be Dorothy now. Yeah. Well, you're you're you're channeling Dorothy right now with your uh with your sweater and your colors. Yeah. She was just a great person and I think we could all learn a little something about inclusion and just making everyone feel like they belong somewhere. Well, thank you so much F. It was so great talking to you. Well, thank you for making me feel like I belong. Dana,

for more on this and other programs, visit aggov.org/ctn. Visit youtube.com/ctnan arbor to see all that we have to offer. Remember, like, subscribe, and ring that notification. Thanks for watching and tune in next time to FYI. And there's the house. And here you are. Taking innocent things and twisting them into something less innocent is something that we really love to do in the internet age.

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted Ruby slippers. Who killed the witch in the east? Uh, you see this giant girl right over here kind of squashed her to death with a double wide. What? There was a TV guide blur that accused Dorothy of being a murderer. Murder? Murder? I don't know anything about murder. Woo. It's just crazy. Writer Rick Pledo wrote, "Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets, then teams up with three strangers to kill again." That's That's real. You killed her. It was an accident.

I think those interpretations are really funny to be honest. You're in awe, Dorothy. It's played for laughs because Dorothy's intentions are pure in the book and in the film. But she sure had pretty shoes, didn't she? We're not even close to the same size.