I wanted to show you a few things about how we get news at Michigan. ;-)
These big cement posts are dotted about campus and covered with a variety of posters, advertisements and anything else you can think of to tell people who, what, where and when. Everything is up there, from concerts to student events.

Chalking is another way that people on campus spread the word.
Of course, there's only one problem with chalking... See below. That's one of our beautifully painted fire hydrants in downtown Ann Arbor. But sometime in October, those white and red stripy sticks were attached to all of them. Any idea why?

SNOW is coming. Lots of snow. The fire hydrants are at least a foot high, so with the snow plowed off the street, it will definitely pile up beyond that. The stripy sticks are to keep everyone from running into the fire hydrants. That takes chalking and most other outdoorsy Michigan activities out of commission. What I like about the fire hydrants with the sticks is watching when people cycle down the street and will flip them, so the stick waves back and forth. It looks like a wagging tail at the hydrant, and with the association of dogs and fire hydrants, makes me chuckle.