Welcome to Another Place Times

What to expect when you're expecting a newsletter

Me, at Another Place in Benzie County the day I got the figurative keys.

Thank you for joining my nascent newsletter and the Another Place Times community. If you’re here, you care about this slow process of land regeneration, building in rural Northern Michigan, or me in some way. Thank you for taking the time.

I’m Elle, a design researcher, home cook, aspiring landscape architect, friend, & general person living in Detroit. I struggle to write succinctly about myself defined by titles or identities; maybe I’m a social practice artist, although I’m still working out what that means, maybe I’m the youngest of two, maybe I’m a sustaining member, maybe I’m tall. Regardless, if I expect you to read this newsletter, I’d like you to know who I am.

Listed below are a select few of the ways I’ve spent time over the past several years*:

• co-hosting a bi-weekly public radio show called Big Sandwich (CJAM 99.1fm)

• swimming in the Chippewa River outside of Eau Claire, WI with Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson (accident)

• practicing and playing piano (and here’s one of my favorite albums of late, by Hania Rani)

• going to the St. Hyacinth banana festival (banana bread, pictures of bananas on the wall, unclear relation between religion and bananas) with my best friend and his grandma

• jumping to and fro in the world’s largest bounce house

• dancing to DJ Holographic’s set at Movement

• making a short film about a fictional search for UFO songs in Landers, CA 

• playing weekly neighborhood soccer with DCFL

• looking for my chapstick

• crying and/or staring at the ceiling

• reading Christopher Alexander’s The Timeless Way of Building

• camping on a mountain in the San Isabel National Forest in Colorado

• moving to Chicago from Detroit in 2021 and enjoying the hot dogs (and the food, and the lake, and the brown line), moving back to Detroit in 2022 

• wondering if my cat Olaf would like to become one of those hiking cats

  • knowing my other cat Boo would not like that

*less noteworthy verbs, otherwise known as “just living,” not listed.

In October 2022, I added a major item to this list, fulfilling a lifelong dream of purchasing 11 acres of land in Northern Michigan in a place that’s deeply important to me. I am calling this land Another Place and you can read the story of its resonant namesake, The Place, in the first newsletter, coming soon.

The Place being built in the early ~1960s. My grandpa stands under the Airstream awning.

1. Why now?

Projects on the land will begin in April! I’m attempting to document everything; so far, I’ve captured film and video footage of the property in its resting state, and now it’s time to document the movements, projects, and engagements publicly. This will last many years… I hope you stick around.

2. If you build it (a newsletter), they will comm(unity)

I want to make Another Place Times available for people who are interested in land regeneration, building a log cabin, existing as a queer person in rural Northern Michigan, ecology, art, family, building an outdoor shower, whole whitefish cooking over an open fire, and designing our futures.

I also plan to make calls for volunteers, skilled labor when needed, open the space for people to stay, and eventually, opportunities for workshops.

I’ll let the newsletter transform and evolve from there.

On that note — please share this newsletter with whomever you think also wants to read about these things.

Experimenting with making “cooking fish over an open wood fire” my personality (2022). Photo by Ellen Rutt.

3. What to expect as a subscriber

While it may take some time to figure out the frequency of this newsletter, I can offer my clear intentions: 

• A longer-form piece every month, full of project updates, thoughts, learnings and musings, and if I’m lucky, input from you all

• Shorter updates every 2 weeks, containing project-specific information, lessons, learnings and calls for volunteers/help

I’m personally the biggest hater of paywalls and will do anything to get around them, but I do love to pay for newsletters that I routinely read and learn from. All of the money I make from this newsletter goes directly into Another Place projects. While every dollar helps bring this vision to life in a direct way, I also want to make the newsletter accessible to everyone interested. If you can't afford a subscription but still want to read the paywalled bits, please don't hesitate to reach out, and I’ll happily provide you with a subscription. <3 

More on all that soon.

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Until then, xo,
elle